Category: Uncategorized
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Zip It, Grandma!
Young children possess a beautiful innocence and translucency. One can almost see straight into their heart at times. And equally, they look out on the world with such openness, trust and illumination. I am blessed with five gorgeous grandchildren and have had the pleasure and delight of having them all in one place this past…
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The Rhythm Of Life
It’s a daunting thought to relinquish one’s natural heartbeat forever. In one week’s time, I am due to undergo my fourth cardiac procedure in a year. This one will obliterate my natural heartbeat permanently, and consequently my life will be 100% dependant on the steady working of the electronic pacemaker device implanted in my chest.…
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I Am Titanium
The popular song featuring Sia goes like this; 🎵 ‘ You shoot me down but I won’t fall, I am titanium’. 🎵 This lyrical concept feels empowering. Nowadays many of us are walking around with titanium in our bodies, be it a hip replacement, dental implants or, in my case, a cardiac pacemaker. Titanium is recognised for…
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Lost and Found
( a.k.a. Uni Daze ) Life can be beautiful. Life can be messy. During my second year at medical school my father was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and we were told he had 6 months to live. We were a single parent family – my mother left us some years previously and never…
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Making Peace with Uncertainty
( Are you out of your head? ) In recent times I have found it increasingly difficult to live with the uncertainties that come with ill health. When an unexpected cardiac event sucker punches me out of the blue again, it’s hard to go through the inevitable cascade which has to follow with the severity…
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How To Save A Life 🎶
(For the teachers) Most of you will probably have heard the popular song ‘How To Save A Life’, written by The Fray in 2005. The song won many awards and also featured on the hospital drama series, Grey’s Anatomy. What you may not know is that the writer and frontman, Isaac Slade, is a personal…
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And Now For Something Completely Different…
(& oh là là) Some of you may be old enough to remember this 1971 title stemming from the Monty Python TV series catchphrase! Today’s is an account of another M.P. – namely the Mary Poppins year of my life. Having spent many blogs reflecting on my recent observations in hospital, I thought I’d change…
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Cecilia-You’re Breaking My Heart…
(the great unmasking) On the 16th May this year, the mandatory wearing of face masks was finally relaxed in the hospital setting as Scotland was deemed to have entered a calmer phase of the covid 19 pandemic. The staff were mainly thrilled at this decision, having had to endure wearing them for months on end…
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The Lion, The Cat, The Monkey and The Sheepdog. – The Fellowship of The Ring.
This little story title suggests some curious kind of Charlie Mackesy & Tolkien amalgam. But hopefully it will begin to make some sense as it unfolds. During the course of my health challenges in recent months, I have seen with new clarity, the beauty of family support. The specific attributes of the people closest to…
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Sandcastles Of Hope
( an honest account) Thank you for travelling through this bumpy post with me. In the words of Emily Dickinson, ‘Hope is the thing with feathers , that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all….’ In recent days, and even months, hope has been an elusive…
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