Author: Abigail Johnston

I'm a daughter, a wife, a mother, and I've been living with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer since March, 2017. All of the words I publish are my own.

Persistence

At the beginning of each year, I sit with the experiences of the previous year and look to the next year. As part of this exercise, I select a word for the coming year. Throughout that year, I meditate and look at how that word is working itself out during the year. For 2022, the … Continue reading Persistence →

On Surviving the Death of Friends

Before my diagnosis of Stage IV metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) in 2017, I had weathered the deaths of both grandfathers and a handful of other elderly relatives who I vaguely knew. While hard and often life changing, these deaths were in different generations than mine and although some were abrupt, all of these family members … Continue reading On Surviving the Death of Friends →

Scanxiety, a reexamination

Tomorrow is my first PET/CT at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville since we moved from Miami to Orlando last month. It’s not my first scan, more like the 20th or so since my de novo Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) in 2017, but it’s the second one after the cancer in my body spread … Continue reading Scanxiety, a reexamination →

A New Team

As many of you know, we recently moved from Miami, Florida to Orlando, Florida and that necessitated some significant changes in my oncology team. It was quite sad to leave many of the doctors and staff who I've been seeing for my healthcare for the last nearly five (5) years. Those of us with serious/complicated … Continue reading A New Team →

Medical Debt

Did you know that the vast majority of bankruptcies in the United States are filed because of excessive medical debt? Once a person needs medical care, especially when that care is ongoing/chronic/forever, medical debt can become an overwhelming issue with no end in sight. Then, add on the aggressiveness with collection from health care companies … Continue reading Medical Debt →

Patriotic Celebrations

Both of my grandfather's served in the military during WWII and there was always a sense of citizenship and responsibility communicated within my family. Going into the legal profession only heightened those messages from my family of origin and when I lived in Norfolk, Virginia while attending law school, I had the opportunity to see … Continue reading Patriotic Celebrations →

Meditation

Before cancer, I rarely sat still. My calendar was full and I was always looking for the things that needed to be added, squashed really, into an already packed schedule. Before cancer, I had a law practice that was always changing and multiple employees and an office to run and deal with. Before cancer, my … Continue reading Meditation →

Genetic Testing?

I've written before about genetic and genomic testing and how that has affected me personally and affected my choices regarding care. You can read those articles if you'd like: ATM Mutation, Mutations Become Targets, Receptors, and Cancer Prevention versus Risk Reduction. Let me start this particular discussion by saying that I believe all knowledge is … Continue reading Genetic Testing? →

Reblog from Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer: Weekly Round Up

Time for this week’s round-up of the best of the blog posts which I’ve read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me …Weekly Round Up

Siblings and Family Dynamics

Regardless of what our family looks like, we all come from a group of people who have shaped us for our entire lives. The make up of each family is incredibly unique; the dynamics affecting each one is a combination of both static and changing factors. As most mental health experts will tell you, we … Continue reading Siblings and Family Dynamics →