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.

Reflecting on 3 Cycles of Piqray

We're halfway through November, 2019, and I just picked up my fourth cycle of Piqray from the specialty pharmacy at my cancer center yesterday.  I also found out yesterday that my first PET scan since starting Piqray demonstrated that my cancer has had a partial response to the medication over the past three months. While … Continue reading Reflecting on 3 Cycles of Piqray →

Self Care

I've seen quite a bit recently about how important it is to practice self care. Self care looks very different for different people and, I believe, can reflect the personality of the individual. I confess that I've not always been particularly good at self care and I would often push myself much farther than I … Continue reading Self Care →

Showing up

What does it mean to show up for someone? I've thought about this quite a bit over the past several years. Prior to breast cancer, I would have focused only on tangible things. Like literally showing up at an event, delivering a meal or donating necessary time. I still think of these things first. I'm … Continue reading Showing up →

Book Review: Flash Count Diary; Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life

Finally, a book about menopause that I wholeheartedly agree with. Like the author, Darcy Steinke, I've attempted to understand the affects of menopause rather than medicate it all away. The author talks about the mainstream menopause authors and how each falls prey to the traditionally male conclusion that aging women must take hormone replacement therapy … Continue reading Book Review: Flash Count Diary; Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life →

Changing the World

I saw the meme below on Facebook some time ago and it made me chuckle. And then I thought, is this really funny? Why would I automatically find it funny? Could have been the person who posted it or could have been the context. I believe the concept behind this meme, strongly. Here in the … Continue reading Changing the World →

Did you know?

While I've added my own words and experiences to the blog posts, the informative metastatic breast cancer graphics were created by Andrea Parker, who was born only a few months earlier than I in 1978. Andrea created the graphics with Ginny Knackmuhs offering the statistical information for them. Andrea’s life was stolen by MBC in … Continue reading Did you know? →

Breast Cancer Facts, 10/31

We survived. We got through Breast Cancer Awareness month. October aka Pinktober aka Crooktober aka Stinktober is my least favorite month of the year. Why? Because it isn't helpful to us who are living with Stage IV and then it ends and no one pays attention any longer. Living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/31 →

Breast Cancer Facts, 10/30

It's difficult to find reliable statistics to definitively prove all of the statistics in this or some of the other educational posts I've posted because the people who are initially diagnosed at an early stage (I-III) and then progress to Stage IV are not counted. We do have two data points that are helpful, the … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/30 →

Breast Cancer Facts, 10/29

I love my palliative care doctor so much that I wrote a whole blog post about my experiences. You can read that here. Palliative care is not hospice and anyone diagnosed with a serious illness, terminal or chronic, can benefit from palliative care. As I ended my blog post linked here, everyone deserves to have … Continue reading Breast Cancer Facts, 10/29 →

Breast Cancer Facts, 10/28

I have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, which formed a hard lump in my breast. Inflammatory breast cancer is much harder to find. The bottom line is that if your body changes, if a part of your body looks different or feels different, go to the doctor. Don't stop until you have an answer.