Flying Fyllis

08/03/2026

Why I left Dubai temporarily during the current situation, with the luck of the universe for a flight ✈️

02/03/2026

🇦🇪 safe at home 🏡

26/02/2026

Running out of hope on this upcoming with many health systems failing sick people with rare & undiagnosed diseases

14/02/2026

📖 Really looking forward to reading The Observable Universe by my good friend Heather McCalden. A weekend of reading and reflection on my balcony by the sea.

Heather’s an inspiration. She came into my life in London at a time when I was rediscovering myself after a long relationship ended and navigating work amidst health instability. I’d come out of a long flare up and despite the odd kidney issue, I was relatively well for a year or two then, burning the candle at both ends in London. We had a lot of fun with the American girls whose media and arts scene was a refreshing change from my life consumed by Oxbridge-turned-corporate professional life; day-by-day I lost my creativity in the corporate office environment.

That year was different though, working for a start up with a work hard/play hard culture, coupled with speakeasy cocktail bars with new friends, dipping our toe in the London dating scene in your 20s, artsy exhibits and aimless London wandering. I even had enough energy to continue with my Chinese language class on a weekend, having moved back from Taiwan a few years earlier to to start my London professional career.

Intelligent, strikingly beautiful, creative Heather was a breath of fresh air with her introverted nature and artistic expression. Her dedication to performance dance and art was truely inspiring. We spent one New Year’s Eve at a London pub in Hackney - our old stomping ground - and would frequent new cocktail bars around town. I look back at that time with fond memories, a sense of freedom and opportunity before the complexities of life fully took hold.
In my pre-work academic studies, illness narratives was a key interest of mine, spurred on by my own experience with periodic illness since childhood, acquiring malaria and other infectious diseases along my travels; unknown to me at that time from innate immune system dysregulation. I knew Heather well but we hadn’t broached the subject of illness and loss at that time. My recent viral pneumonia hospitalisation has parallels with the book’s theme.
I left London in 2014 for work overseas and I haven’t crossed paths with Heather since. Until I saw her book recently published..

13/02/2026

Happy Friday

13/01/2026

Back to work with jet lag & flare ups

06/01/2026

2026 has kicked off with a busy start and for me brings uncertainty and opportunity. What are you looking forward to in 2026?

25/12/2025

Merry Christmas 🤶

24/11/2025

29/10/2025

I took the day off today to attend training followed by visiting my Immunologist afterwards - while I’m over the other side of town with the traffic 🚘 .

We’re rechecking my immune levels, which partly disappeared last year after a pneumonia hospitalisation.

We still don’t know why or where my immunity went, or why I keep getting sick, but it’s started to recover and hopefully holding up a little stronger.

It’s somewhat contradictory to my overactive immune system and inflammation, so even more of a puzzle 🧩.

There doesn’t seem to be a clear answer yet - none of the obvious reasons, but it seems to be sitting across innate and adaptive errors in immunity.

In the mean time, I’m trying to carry on and feel better, although the frequency of flare ups and infections are now much more regular and intense.

After visiting a hospital or doctor, I like to reward myself with a break and cafe treat. So I’m taking a pause across the beautiful water view over Dubai from a creekside side cafe, sipping on matcha.

I picked up this beautifully illustrated Immune book by the creator of , reading up on how the immune system works in engaging language. It’s such a complex area of clinical and bioscience made easy in this very readable book. I’m not sure it covers too much on Primary Immunodeficiency or Inborn Errors of Immunity, so hopefully a part 2 book can cover this in more detail :).

How do you treat yourself after going to the doctors or hospital? ❤️‍🩹 💪

22/09/2025

You can also follow on Instagram to see more.

07/09/2025

Back to school - well Dubai/work - vibes for me this month.

🧳 As a contractor, I took August off work, sacrificing no pay for time and freedom to travel and visit family. It was definitely worth it. Also for the rest.

💻 I’m back working my 4 day week this week, with a busy quarter expected until Christmas. A choice I have made to balance health & wellbeing and my career.

✈️ I upgraded my Emirates flight with 50k points, built up with local loyalty cards and spending. With my blood clotting risk and skeletal discomfort, sitting for 7+ hours ✈️ without space to lay down and walk about seems impossible at the moment. An upgrade makes travel still possible, although it wears me out a little.

🥵 The weather is still a little too hot and I’ve become intolerant to the heat and cold! I still walk outside but the heat and humidity takes its toll. 😥

😷 I’m trying to keep a low profile and avoid the back to school sicknesses, which have landed me in hospital this time of year for the past 2 years. Working from home as a contractor helps, although there is still face-to-face pressure in the office and this will ultimately have a time limit.

👩‍⚕️ I successfully submitted my genetic testing and case to a specialist facility in the US 🇺🇸 to contribute to medical research and help others with . I hope their review will help others and add clarity to my own treatment options. Over 200 years ago, we had ancestors move to Canada and the US, and records show they had similar disease outcomes. Hopefully my case will especially help any sick children 🙏 with early onset genetic diseases.

💪 My company changed my insurance this week- for the better, but this means I have to restart the approval process to continue my physiotherapy. So more doctor visits, more updated scans and referrals needed to get back into my regular physio routine.

📸 Sorting though my thousands of photos to continue my travel and lifestyle photography hobby and stock photography. It is early days but as a visual thinker, it provides a lot of memory cues for remembering a particular time and place.

📔How’s your back to school / work going?