It’s now been 13 years since my beloved husband, Paul, died suddenly and unexpectedly. It’s a strange feeling, being this far from the immediate grief…
Trigger warning: This post recounts my time with my mother in the last hours and moments of her life. It might be an upsetting or…
It was inevitable, as they say. COVID19 has come home. I mean, it’s not come to my home, but it came to my youngest sister’s…
It’s been a month since I shared that the start of my job was delayed for a few days as I was still waiting on…
Yesterday marked the last day of my post-doc life and today was meant to mark the first day of my lecturing career. But, alas, things…
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.…