Life has changed so much in the last 16 months, but life has also been very static. Yes, everything has changed, and nothing has changed,…
Now that I am fully vaccinated and the COVID19 situation in Scotland seems to be improving, I am beginning to take baby steps back into…
This morning was one of those days. It was one of those days when I woke up and I wasn’t a widow. I woke up…
I visited The Real World today so that I could attend a hospital appointment for a routine check-up on my kidneys, Bob and Dave. The…
Whilst I was in Cambridge last week, things were starting to accelerate with the spread of the Coronavirus that causes COVID19. News from America and…
I participated in a webinar about research into Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and ketosis the other day and was quite pleased to hear such a measured take…
My primary goal for 2020 is to be a stronger and more confident me. But if I’m honest, it’s a goal that I have been heading…
And with that, it’s time for another annual re-cap post. Although quite how we’ve got to 31 December 2019, I couldn’t tell you! Yet, here…
On my way to the Death Café a couple of weeks ago, I wandered through a couple of old kirkyards at the base of the Edinburgh Castle.…
I attended my first “Death Café” last weekend. I had heard about these events in the past but had never had the time to attend,…
I cleared out my PhD office at Edinburgh Napier University today. It was a bit of a strange feeling as I know that I will be back in the…
It has been a long time coming, but I am finally a doctor. Oh yes, I am now officially Dr Frances Ryan. The PhD kind…
Today marks ten years of widowhood; ten years since my darling husband died so unexpectedly in the middle of the night. These past ten years have…
I am very pleased and extremely relieved to be able to (finally!) announce that I have passed my PhD viva – and with only minor…
Today is Thursday, 21 February. I was born on Thursday, 21 February. And on this very Thursday, 21 February, I am 21 in Scrabble tiles.…
Remember when I talked about the frustrations of the chronically ill? Well, my failed plans for an active November are a part of that frustration! Yes,…
I have been thinking about illness a lot lately. Especially about the frustrations of being chronically ill. Even more about the frustrations of being chronically…
It was nearly five years ago that I first felt a lump in my breast and panicked about the possibility of cancer. At that time, a quick…
I am a widow. I was widowed when I was a young woman of 35 and my life has never been the same since. In the…
It is Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK, so I thought I’d share a bit about my recent efforts to keep my mental health in…