African treat
In 2000, aged 16, I spent a few weeks with my dad on an N/S Africa trip doing the usual touristy stuff. The day we arrived home was the pen ultimate day of the school holidays so I promptly went to bed to ready myself for the return.

At around 6:30am I woke up lying on my back drenched in sweat running a high fever I tried to sit up but found I was hardly able to move feeling quasi-paralysed I tried to call out for help but couldn’t vocalise anything but odd whimpers and groans..

Over the next 30 minuets I heard both my parents leave the house and I must admit I became totally monkey scared, that primal survival fear you get, like when you see a huge spider or some such scurry across the floor towards you in your peripheral vision.

Luckily we had a cleaner back then I heard her flutting about downstairs and by now I'd managed to drag myself off the bed on to the floor. I was completely delirious and began doing the only thing I could do to attract her attention bang my head repeatedly on the floor, trust me it made sense at the time, the only thing I could move with any conviction was my head.

It worked she promptly called an ambulance I was hurried away to a local hospital in a containment room with a large air con unit ice and damp towels to try and keep my temp down (it was sky high risking brain damage had I been left).

I don’t recall anything from the first 5 days I spent in the hospital except the lunge punch they did to test my spinal fluid. The night I finally came round I was greeted by a nun sitting at the bottom of my bed smiling at me scared me lots bloody nuns!.
(Retow, Sun 28 Nov 2004, 22:26, Reply)