Dunfermline’s Willie Gibson has revealed he feared the worst when he was hospitalised last month with what was thought to be meningitis.
His family rushed to his bedside as doctors conducted a battery of tests, including a lumbar puncture.
Thankfully, meningitis was eventually ruled out but the winger, who has been one of the Pars’ star men this season, faces a long, slow journey back to full fitness.
“I attended the Partick Thistle game on December 14 even although I was suspended,” he said.
“I did some runs before the match and felt absolutely fine.
“I was OK during the game but on my way home, I started to feel unwell.
“I had a sore head and my eyes were reacting to light.
“I did not think too much about it and just had a couple of paracetamol and went off to my bed.
“But when I woke up the next day, on the Wednesday morning, I felt absolutely dreadful.
“I was dizzy, had a sore head and throat and once again my eyes were reacting to light.
“I still thought it would just be one of these 24-hour things but my missus Melanie said I should get checked out.
“However, I hate seeing doctors and I am not often that ill.”
He added, “I also had to go down to Dumfries to attend my kids’ Christmas play but during that I took unwell and was sick.
“I then went to my own GP and he said it was meningism. He told me not to get confused as it was not as severe as meningitis.
“I went home for a couple of hours but I just got worse. I had no strength at all in my body and felt totally drained.
“So, I was admitted to hospital where they took blood samples. They also put me on a drip and gave me antibiotics.
“They did further tests which were all telling them that it looked like meningitis.Terrifying”They decided to give me a CT scan and a lumbar puncture.
“The scan came back clear but they still wanted to do the lumbar puncture to rule anything else out.
“That was absolute agony but it also came back clear.
“The wait between the brain scan and the lumbar puncture was probably a day and a half as there were emergencies and things.
“It was a terrible time waiting.
“Melanie and her family all came round. My dad also came up to see me but my sister was in hospital having a baby.
“I feared the worst, to be honest. I said to my missus that I felt I was getting worse.
“When meningitis is mentioned it is really worrying and it is the most terrifying thing that has happened in my life.
“Melanie could not stay with me overnight in hospital, and when she went home I had a lot of time to think.
“It is not nice to consider but everything crossed my mind.
“Thankfully, though, everything came back clear and they put it down to a viral infection.”
Gibson was sent home with antibiotics and was told to take plenty of rest.
He finally managed a bit of running at the end of last week but suffered a setback at the weekend when he was sick again.
“The doctor just thought it was a reaction to doing too much,” he added.
“I have done a couple of light sessions since and have not had any reaction.
“I will just have to take it easy as I also lost a stone in weight during the three days I was in hospital because I could not eat anything.
“Even when I came out, I was still struggling to eatChristmas dinner consisted of a few pieces of mashed potato and a sausage wrapped in bacon.
“But I have now put a bit of weight back on and I am hoping to progress from here and start training properly on Monday.”