"It was March 3, 2010. I awoke and just felt like I was coming down with a bit of a cold and I had a mild sore throat.
I went to work and a couple of colleagues commented that I looked pale.
My cold symptoms continued and I had developed a headache and felt quite sick.
I went to the bathroom and fainted. I was only unconscious for a few minutes and my colleagues gave me some water and got me sitting down. I did not feel up to driving home, so my mum was called to come and get me so I could spend some time at her home until I felt better.
When mum collected me she commented that I looked very unwell and by this time my sore throat was worse. Although I protested mum took me to her doctors. I was given a check-up and they diagnosed me with tonsillitis, prescribed penicillin and suggested that I was isolated for 48 hours as tonsillitis was contagious.
My mum lives in an over 50s complex and there is a guest flat so mum booked me into there. All I wanted to do was sleep, so after mum gave me a light snack and something to drink she left me to sleep and said she would not disturb me in the morning but let me lie in and I was to call her when I woke up."
A terrible headache
"I woke around 6am with the most excruciating pain in my head. It was like my brain was on fire. I got up and got some water and just thought if I slept it would go. I really remember nothing after that until I woke up in hospital.
At around 7am, Mum had an overwhelming urge to see how I was and left her 1st floor apartment to visit me on the 3rd floor. What she found was a person who was totally delirious and making no sense whatsoever. After calling the doctor, she was told to call the emergency services.
Although I was conscious the entire time, I do not remember anything at all. Mum has told me that I acted like I was going mad, shouting, screaming, trying to climb on furniture etc.
When I first arrived at hospital they actually thought that I was having some sort of mental breakdown and there was even talk of transferring me to another hospital that specialised in mental health.
It was only because an A&E nurse who was not assigned to me recognised the symptoms and was adamant that I had meningitis. They started to treat me for meningitis even though they were not certain at that point what was wrong with me."
Meningitis confirmed
"Alarmingly even though I had suspected meningitis I was put on the general A&E ward and not put into an isolation room for several hours. The next day they finally confirmed to my mum that I had meningitis, but as I had been given penicillin they did not know if it was viral or bacterial as the results were unclear.
I think the worse part was feeling so ill but until they knew which strain I had, I was not allowed to see any family for four days. It was eventually confirmed that I had meningococcal septicaemia.
I was in hospital for 12 days and was told by the doctors how lucky I had been, but to be honest it was only when I visited my mum's doctor four days after leaving hospital that I realised how very lucky I had been.
Both mum and I look back on what happened now and are very alarmed at the slowness of diagnosis and the lack of information that was given while I was in hospital. I feel extremely blessed and amazed that I have recovered with no after-affects apart from getting tired very easily.
I think there is much work to be done to ensure medical professionals are better trained to spot the sometimes not completely obvious symptoms."
