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…
I am allowing someone to enter into my little holiday bubble this year. She’s an American PhD student who is “fresh off the boat”, so I extended…
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 have been off on my Homeland Holidays the last couple of weeks, and am now home in Scotland settling back into my daily routine.…
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…
Regular readers will know that my PhD Dreams have been an important part of my life for a few years now. And excitedly, my PhD Dreams will…
I am in Ljubljana, Slovenia at the moment for an academic conference, and I am falling in love! Why? Because much like my visit to (and subsequent love affair with)…
That’s my final thesis submitted and all of the paperwork completed for my PhD graduation on the 4th of July. Are you as excited as I…
Wow! It has now been two years since I started taking tolvaptan, a drug that is meant to slow the progression of polycystic kidney disease (PKD). I…
On my way home from visiting my late husband’s grave, I stopped off in Berwick-Upon-Tweed for some adventuring. I thought that it would be a good way to…
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.…
As 2018 winds to a close, I find myself reflecting on the year and how I’ve fared over the last 12 months. And, as always,…
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…
Wow! It is the 1st of July already. And that means that my PhD thesis is due in just four months. Yikes! Of course, that means that…
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…