It’s the start of a new month, and that means an end-of-month wrap-up! Join me for my March 2024 wrap-up as I talk about NHS referral frustrations, Final Fantasy XIV updates and what I’ve been watching and reading all month.

Compared to February, my health wasn’t too bad. I had normal PMT symptoms, nothing like what happened last month. Unfortunately, one of the hardest parts about living with chronic illnesses is having no control over the world around you. There’s only so much I can do to limit the effect that other people and their actions have on me, and of course, they have every right to live their lives. In a perfect world, I would live isolated from people, so I could avoid loud noises and other things that trigger my symptoms, but being chronically ill also requires being near people for medical care and support.

So when my neighbours started remodelling their whole kitchen, there was only so much I could do. Our walls and ceiling are very thin and noise echoes around our flat, so going to a room in the opposite direction doesn’t help. As I spend most of my time at home, I can’t escape it either.

Thankfully, they didn’t start early, or I would have been a complete mess. It was one week of construction noise every day, and then various noises since, as they are still working on it. That first week, I just about managed to play Final Fantasy XIV because I couldn’t focus. Due to my ME/CFS, I have a hypersensitivity to noise and light, and loud noises cause me physical pain and discomfort as well as triggering painful migraines. I didn’t realise how much this had disrupted things for me until I started working on this wrap-up and realised I had only completed two book reviews this month instead of the usual five or more.

Just as I was beginning to feel like I could get back into a routine, I ended up with a mountain load of stress. As mentioned last month, I had an appointment in March to check in with my nurse after stopping my Depo in January 2024. I ended up not seeing my usual nurse as she had to pop out suddenly, but she left me in the very capable hands of the nurse practitioner. I was worried at first, however, once I started talking to her, I found her easy to talk to and she was so helpful!

She talked through everything about the perimenopause and my Depo with me, and then went, “Well, we can do a blood test if you want?” I quite literally told her I loved her. Regular readers may remember me wanting such a blood test for a long time, and being told by a doctor that the NHS no longer offered it. She tested my hormones and also did a general check-up for a bunch of things. Everything came back normal, except for something to do with my liver, which has been up for years and is most likely due to my weight and/or the amount of medication I’m on. However, there was some good news with that, as the levels had decreased. It’s nothing worrying either way.

While there, I asked her to check my referral for rheumatology. I’ve had two referrals, this one and another, that I’ve been on the wait list for a while. The other one, which I’m not ready to discuss yet (don’t worry, it’s nothing serious), I know is going to be a long wait and I also knew from other people that rheumatology had a long wait. But it was now nearing two years. Even the nurse thought that it had been a while and gave me the NHS Glasgow appointment line to call.

Boy, am I glad she did! It turns out that my referral was thrown back to my GP less than a month after it had been sent! I’ve been waiting nearly two years for no reason. There was a note on file from someone to call me and get me to make an appointment to discuss it, and of course, the wonderful staff at my health centre failed to do it. I found this all out on a Friday, and had to wait over an hour in their hellish phone queue to speak to someone who was only able to tell me that the consultant had refused my referral because “it’s an inherited condition, and we don’t test for it”.

I was given an appointment for the following Monday, along with apologies and comment about them only giving appointments out on the day “but due to the circumstances” they would make an “exception”. I was seething. How I managed not to lose it with that secretary, I don’t know. I think I was too stunned by this turn of events, especially as I have checked before for updates. It was missed because it was so far back in my file, right by the original referral.

That weekend I was filled with stress. I didn’t know if the original GP I had spoken to had made a mess of the referral, or if the rheumatology consultant had rejected it out of hand. Would I need to argue with my GP to get a new referral? Would I even be allowed a second one? It was these thoughts and even more that ran through my head until the appointment.

I should give a bit of background information before I continue. This referral was to rheumatology for two things. The first was escalating pain levels, especially in my hips, and an x-ray of my hips was taken at the time. The other was that I have not been seen by a consultant since I was originally diagnosed with hypermobility syndrome when I was fourteen.

I’m now thirty-eight (thirty-six at the time of the referral) and all I’ve had in the way of treatment from the NHS over the years are some horrible physiotherapists. The first revealed my pelvis was tilted the wrong way but offered no solution for this and snapped at me when I bent my joints too far. The other did not examine me, and told me she had the same condition as me (hypermobility) and that all I needed to do was be more active like her! Yes, she was very slender, and yes, I walked out of that appointment.

In 2017 joint hypermobility was reclassified as a spectrum disorder, and while ‘hypermobility syndrome’ is still recognised the terminology has changed. I don’t know if I have a hypermobility spectrum disorder as listed here, or a type of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) as listed here. I believe that I have hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), and this referral aimed to try to get that diagnosis.

With this in mind, I went prepared with some documentation about the 2017 changes and diagnosing hEDS and ready to fight for my right to a diagnosis. It turned out I didn’t need it. The fault lay with rheumatology, and my GP was well aware of the issue. She told me that she had run into this problem with another patient with EDS. The rheumatology department in Glasgow does not believe that EDS is “a rheumatology issue”.

The GP gave me a copy of the consultant’s reply, and he even mentioned the “rheumatic manifestations of hypermobility”. At first glance it looked as though he knew what he was talking about, mentioning that patients “may also experience irritable bowel syndrome, postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and chronic widespread pain” (his way of saying it’s not his problem), but then in the same letter he has called joint hypermobility and hEDS the same condition when they’re not at all. He’s also incorrect in saying that no genetic cause has been identified because it is known to be a genetic condition. He did everything he could to fob me off.

I was very fortunate that my GP had been through this before (not that I’m happy some other poor person had to deal with this) and knew a solution. She helped that patient get an EDS diagnosis via the genetics department that handles genetic conditions. Not sure how well I’ll get on going that route, but let’s try it anyway. My hip pain was still present, and particularly bad that day, and my shoulders have been getting bad too. She examined both and put in two different referrals to orthopaedics, one to the hip department and one to the shoulder department. So yes, I now have four referrals out there 😀

On top of everything else that had already happened, going out twice for appointments was too much this month. I was struggling with my depression in March and thankfully made it to my therapy meeting one time. It was wonderful, so bright and full of love. It was exactly what I needed.

What I didn’t need was the run-in with a bad driver on the way home. A woman came up behind us as Chris was parking. It looked like she wasn’t going to give him space at first, but she did, and then after we had parked she just sat there in the middle of the road. My door was on the side of the road, so I was waiting for her to go past. I said as much to Chris, who told me to just go.

As soon as I got out of the car, she accelerated! I yelled and gestured at the car in shock (which I didn’t realise I did at the time) and she stopped by me, asking me what my problem was. I explained that I didn’t know why she waited until I got out of the car to move when she had been sitting still for several minutes. She completely flipped out at me, telling me to “Shut up you stupid fat specie c**t” and drove off! I just stared after her. I was flabbergasted, not just at her reaction but at someone insulting my glasses. I’ve not had someone do that since I was in primary school!

I wish I could say I just shrugged off her comments, but it took me several days especially as other events were also making me feel like I was just expected to sit back and take things passively. It helped that my GP was supportive and understanding regarding the referral. I think if that had gone a different way my moods would have kept sinking.

Blog wise I didn’t get much done. I took part in a cover reveal for Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa and I got the list of Disabled and Neurodivergent Books out in March 2024 with help from some very generous people on Twitter. It takes a lot of time to write the alt text descriptions for the covers and they generously gave their time to help me with them so I could get the post out in March.

I got quite a lot done in Final Fantasy XIV since I wasn’t well or able to focus on much else. I finished up the event that was taking place with ease, obtaining all the items I wanted and then some. As my Island Sanctuary is complete, it was time to start working through the quests that became available after I finished the main Endwalker story quest. I’ve been enjoying them a lot and they have been very interesting!

I’ve also been levelling a lot of jobs/classes. I got a lot of levels doing so many dungeons and raids for that event, and beast tribe quests and some duty support dungeons (dungeons run with NPCs instead of other players) filled in the gaps.

My job/class levels at the end of March 2024 were:

To put that into perspective, here’s what the changes were compared to last month:

• Warrior from 63 to 65.
• Monk from 88 to 90.
• Dragoon from 85 to 90.
• Reaper from 76 to 80.
• White Mage from 80 to 81.
• Astrologian from 63 to 71.
• Sage from 80 to 88.
• Red Mage from 80 to 84.

That brings me to a total of nine max-level characters now. It gets a lot easier once I get to 70 as that is when I can do the daily beast tribe quests, so Warrior and Paladin are the ones lagging behind.

With all the level ups that meant I was also doing a bunch of class quests, as well as the role jobs for Endwalker. I’ve completed all of those except the healer and tank ones. The healer one is almost finished as I’m using it to help level up my Sage. I’ll use the tank one to help level Gunbreaker once Sage is finished.

This month Square Enix announced a new cross-over event between games, this time with Final Fantasy XVI which incidentally Chris finished last month on Playstation. I saw some bits as he played and we talked about it a bit, but largely I avoided it as I’d like to play it myself at some point. It’s the third time there’s been a cross-over event in Final Fantasy XIV and another Final Fantasy game. They’ve been interesting and they give great in-game items.

You can read more details at the website dedicated to the event, and that includes images of the items players get from it. They gave us some great ones for this event; a gorgeous set of gear, a beautiful wolf mount and a cute wolf pet.

One final Final Fantasy XIV thing to note – I finished my flower growing! I now have lots of pretty flowers to use for glamours and have started taking some glamour photos in the game. I’ll maybe share some next month.

For now, I’ll share the completed flower spread from my Final Fantasy bullet journal!

I started March off by finishing Bosch with seasons 6 and 7. The character’s stories continued in a spin-off set years later with the titular character now a P.I. and his daughter (who we watched grow up in the previous show) is now the police officer in the family. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the two seasons of Bosch: Legacy available, and can’t wait for the next season.

TV shows I finished in March 2024 were:

Death in Paradise: Season 13 – A lot happened in this season and it’s lots of spoilers so I’ll just head under a spoiler cut 🙂

View Spoiler »This is the last season for Rafe Little, and the BBC truly outdid themselves with his finale. I don’t mean that in a good way. They did a very convoluted three-parter with Florence returning from witness protection, the first parts ending on a massive cliffhanger. Then in the final episode, they drew it out, which I can understand because a happy ending straight away would have been very obvious. It was a clever episode, however, usually by that point they had introduced the new inspector and there’s been no new character. The actor has not been announced at all, and the series has been renewed.

It was also a wonderful surprise to have Donny John-Jules back on the show. He is such a delight to watch in whatever he does. « Hide Spoiler

The Marlow Murder Club: Season 1 – Adapted from the book of the same name, I loved this. Starring Samantha Bond and Jo Bond, it was such a fun show. My only complaint is that it was so short!

Magnum P.I.: Season 5 – The show finally ended, and honestly, I think the previous season finale was a much better end to the show. While it was nice to see Magnum and Higgins as a couple, and there were some great episodes in season 5, the finale itself was just lacking.

Miss Scarlet and the Duke: Season 4 – I love this show, however, this season was not its best and to talk more about this I need to pop behind a spoiler cut!

View Spoiler »The lead male actor, ‘The Duke’, decided to leave the show as he felt that his character was holding the main character, Miss Scarlet, back. Until this point the show was going down the typical path of most detective shows where the female and male lead end up romantically involved – not that I mind it, but let’s be frank, it’s a trope that happens too often in the genre. It was very refreshing to see a show go in the opposite direction and next season the show is renamed to ‘Miss Scarlet‘. The problem is that the writers and producers seemed to take this as a sign that they needed to fill in the gaps in the history between Scarlet and Duke’s relationship, and they did it badly.

There is a flashback episode that finally shows viewers how the two met which would have been wonderful… except when they cast the actors for the younger versions of the characters they didn’t match accents. The Duke is Scottish, Scarlet is English, and it wasn’t even dodgy accents. That would have been awkward, but manageable. No, they decided to dub in the voices of the normal actors over the younger actors. So you had this young twenty-something man talking with a very deep Scottish brogue… it was so bad.

The whole season just danced around their relationship; will they, won’t they? It would have been much better if they had just made a clean break of it. It did end on a very good final episode which was much more its standard and I hope the new season will be more promising. « Hide Spoiler

As I was feeling so crappy for most of March I needed a show that I could just put on, I didn’t need to pay too much attention to it and I wasn’t going to run out of episodes in a one to two seasons. I’ve been considering watching Law & Order right from the start. I’ve watched some episodes over the years, but never sat and watched it all, and in the last year I’ve found myself becoming a bit more interested in legal dramas.

I watched seasons 1 to 9 in March, and it was just what I was looking for. I could pay attention or just have it on as background noise. As I can’t listen to music easily (it triggers my migraines), TV shows help block out other sounds. I’ve considered audiobooks, however, I find that having images to go with the sounds helps me a lot. When I can listen to music, music videos are much easier than just audio.

Law & Order is the first older non-British show I’ve watched as an adult (I watched some Australian soaps as a teen), and it’s both interesting and strange. It’s great seeing actors in their early roles!

In March 2024 I read the following books:

• Fathomfolk (Drowned World, #1) by Eliza Chan
• Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
• Jump Cut by Helen Grant
• The Last Bloodcarver (The Last Bloodcarver #1) by Vanessa Le
• Once Upon a Spring: A Folk and Fairy Tale Anthology (Once Upon a Season #3)

The books I reviewed in March were:

[rcno-book-listing ids=”34213, 34271″ wc=250 readmore=”Read my review”]

I realised recently that since starting my Final Fantasy XIV gaming bullet journal I’ve not shared any spreads after sharing the first one in August 2021. I got my light box out and took proper photos of most of the spreads (I didn’t do every page as I didn’t have the energy), and while I was stuck in the waiting room before my GP appointment I edited them all.

I’ve been trying to be more active on my Instagram and will be gradually posting them there. But here are some of my favourites. You can find all my gaming bullet journal images on Instagram using the hashtag #jgbbujo.

Thanks for joining me for my March 2024 wrap-up! I hope your March was much better than mine 🙂

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