March 2024 Journal

16th March 2024
Once again, my website builder has been down for over a week. A bit frustrating to say the least. So, what has March brought? I’m still on a few courses. I did go to a new one for mindfulness at the Old Gipton Fire Station but I decided it wasn’t for me. The online Leeds Mind Peer Support Group on a Tuesday morning only has 3 weeks to go & the Mind, Body & Soul group finishes next week. I’m gutted as I really enjoy that group. We’re thinking we may continue to meet up at the Old Gipton Fire Station in the cafe which will be nice. I’m not sure I’ll go every week but I would still like to meet up with the women from this course. CMHT have decided to discharge me as they don’t think they can offer anything else. My GP doesn’t agree with this though, so she’s due to speak to them about it. I spent most of yesterday on the phone trying to sort several things out. In the end, I found out the DVLA received my GP’s request for the fee for completing their form on 20th February. I was not impressed & told him so as this was nearly a month ago. He said he would try to escalate it, but I won’t hold my breath. After leaving several messages, I received a late email from the NHS asking what we believe is outstanding in relation to our complaint. I suggested they contact our solicitor to confirm this as he has a full list. We should receive details regarding the disciplinary & my daily records from the Becklin Centre next week. Fingers crossed this will conclude soon. My private counselling is still going well. I think I’d struggle without this every week. She’s suggested I challenge my irrational thoughts & write them down & see if there is any evidence to show they’re true. I’ve been doing this for just over a week & I think it is helping. Last night, my husband & I were due to go to Headingley to watch the Leeds Rhinos. We pre-booked a taxi for 6.30pm but by 7.30pm, it still hadn’t turned up so we ended up having to stay at home. We were both so pissed off. We hardly ever go out on an evening & we were looking forward to this so much & to meet up with family there. Not at all impressed. My husband’s doctor has done a referral for us both to Adult Social Services to see if they can offer us any support. One thing they did mention was a service called Helping Hands which could offer us some support at home. I’m not sure how long it takes to arrange though. My GP keeps messing up my medication. They had only done a prescription for 1 medication when it should have been for 6. If it’s not the chemist leaving items off, it’s my doctor’s. I’ve started doing dot art. It’s a book with pages of dots or lines & you just colour them in with a pencil or black felt tip & then the image appears. It’s different from just normal colouring but sometimes all I can see are dots in front of my eyes!! I met up with one of the ladies from the Mind, Body & Soul group yesterday morning. We met in Costa & had a good old chinwag. She seems really lonely, bless her. I do enjoy her company & hopefully this friendship will continue.

20th March 2024
It’s been an average few days, some good & some not so good. On Sunday I went to visit my mum & took her to Costa. No sooner had we sat down that she felt really poorly so we had to rush back to the care home. I wish there was something I could do to make her feel better, bless her. She seems to have picked up a bit now but it’s like a vicious circle for her. On Monday I felt great as soon as I woke up. I don’t know if the nice weather had anything to do with it. I got lots done & I felt great all day. Unfortunately, when I woke up on Tuesday, my mood had dropped right down & I felt so lethargic. I attended the online peer support group on Tuesday morning but struggled to contribute much. At lunchtime, we took Poppy out for a nice run. She was shattered when we got back home & slept most of the afternoon & evening! I had another great counselling session in the afternoon. I am still challenging my intrusive thoughts by writing them down & noting if there is any evidence to prove they are true, which they are usually not. We are still waiting to hear from the NHS about our ongoing complaint. They said they will respond this week but, there again, they said this last week. I need to chase up the DVLA again at the end of the week. They had better have processed the fee payment to my doctors as it’s now been a month since they received it. I think I’ll have a party when I get my licence back! I’ve been so long without it. I went to the Mind, Body & Soul group this morning & we thought it was the last one but, thankfully, we have another week so we were all really pleased about that. I’ve started making my second book which I’m hoping to finish next week.

28th March 2024
Most of my time seems to be taken up with appointments of some description. Once again, I have spent a lot of time trying to ensure my doctors complete the forms for the DVLA. I’m hoping I’m not tempting fate, but today they said that the forms had been passed to the doctor to go through them & complete the questionnaire. I’m really hoping these get filled in properly, unlike last time. It’s been 7 months since my licence was revoked & it was only revoked for 6 months, all due to the DVLA & GP’s messing around for so long. Still keeping my fingers crossed. It will make such a positive difference to my life, as well as others. I’ve also asked my GP to do a referral for me to Touchstone. They are opening up for new referrals next week but they only open for 5 days & then close it for another month. As CMHT discharged me, Touchstone should offer me some extra support. It is the last Leeds Mind Peer Support Group next Tuesday. The Mind, Body & Soul group finished yesterday but we have planned to meet up for a cuppa next week. I’m also joining a group called Thrive who do a bit of gardening & also some art so I’m looking forward to starting that next week. My counselling is still going well. I’ve written her a poem today (it’s on my poems page) which I’m going to send her. I hope she likes it. We have received a response from the NHS in relation to our ongoing complaint. We are due to meet with the deputy director of nursing & the complaints manager a week today. Hopefully we will get answers to our unanswered questions. Then it will be up to our solicitor to deal with the data breach side of things. I still haven’t heard anything from the police about last years assault but the detective did warn me it could take months or even years, so I’m trying my hardest to be patient. Tomorrow a friend is taking me & Poppy to Roundhay Park so we can take our dogs for a good run. I’m looking forward to it & I’m sure Poppy will run until she drops!!