I got up a bit later this morning. I’d smoked a lot of weed last night along with the oxycodone, and for the first time in a while, I actually slept properly.

The doctors rang me and said, “We need to see you today.”

I went to get in the car, but Mum stopped me. She told me not to drive — I’d taken too many drugs the night before and she wasn’t wrong — so I booked a taxi instead.

When I got out of the taxi at the surgery, Dr Al-Noori was standing at the door waiting for me. He already had a mask on.  And passed me one to put on . That’s when I knew this wasn’t routine.

I was rushed straight into the GP’s room. He asked how I was feeling. I told him the truth — that I was constantly cold, like I always am now.

He checked my blood pressure, then my temperature. His face changed.

“I need to send you to hospital,” he said. “I think you have an infection.”

My heart sank.

“That’ll make me worse,” I said automatically.

“No,” he replied gently but firmly. “You need to be in hospital. Your white blood cells are too low. You’ll need a white blood cell transfusion.”

I sighed to myself.

Great. More needles

As the ambulance picked me up in read my notes 

Following routine blood tests demonstrating severe leukopenia, the patient was contacted and advised to attend for urgent clinical assessment.

On review, the patient was found to be:

Hypotensive

Pyrexial, with a recorded temperature of 39.2°C

Blood results confirmed a critically low white blood cell count

These findings were highly concerning for infection in the context of neutropenia.

Given the significant risk of neutropenic sepsis, urgent hospital admission was indicated for further assessment, intravenous antibiotics, and supportive management.

So here I am at LGI having a transfusion