I phoned Mum and she told me to get to hospital so my sister took me in a taxi to Glasgow Royal Infirmary. My mum made the 60-mile trip to Glasgow. I was seen quite quickly, the doctor came to examine me and took some blood. My mum arrived and the doctor came to speak to us. He didn't think it was meningitis but said they would do a lumbar puncture just to be sure. I didn't want it because I knew how sore it would be. Mum stayed with me and I think she took the brunt of my pain. After lying flat for two hours the results came back clear so the doctor sent me home saying it was a viral infection.
I woke up the next day feeling slightly better so headed in to uni to sit a test. After the test I felt terrible so went to bed. The symptoms were getting worse and my eyes were becoming sensitive to light.
At 9pm that night my parents got a phone call from the hospital to tell them I needed to attend the hospital immediately. By chance the immunologist had been called in on an emergency and checked my blood test and saw signs of meningococcal septicaemia. My parents left straight away and I headed to the hospital. By this point I was being very sick and I cannot describe how sore my head was. It was not long before I was getting my first lot of IV antibiotics. My parents and sister arrived and stayed with me all night.
I don't remember much of that night but woke up the next morning feeling better. I was in a single room for the first few days, my mum and sister sat with me all day to keep me company. The headaches were awful and continued for a while, as did the severe nausea. I had to stay in hospital for a week to get IV antibiotics but as the week went on I started to improve. I couldn't wait to get out of hospital.