Loose Women Scot Andrea McLean has opened up on a terrifying hospital dash after collapsing at home in the new year.
The former ITV host was in a “lot of pain” after she was diagnosed with pneumonia, sepsis and an acute kidney injury.
Andrea revealed she was found by husband Nick Feeney after being found in her bathroom where she “lay for an hour”.
Andrea, 55, said: “We rang the GP who told us to call 999 immediately. The ambulance team were amazing. My blood pressure was so low I couldn’t stand, and I was in a lot of pain. To be honest, I was barely aware of what was happening, other than trying to be helpful.
“Our bedroom is in the loft, up a steep, narrow flight of stairs, which meant the stretcher couldn’t turn, so getting me out was challenging. We eventually got out the house, and I can now say with confidence that travelling in the back of an ambulance isn’t as much fun as you think it would be.”
She added: “I can’t remember much about A&E other than it was thorough. Questions, scans, lots of needles, and possibly the most painful insertion of a catheter ever experienced. Then my X-ray and CT scans came back. I had severe pneumonia, Acute Kidney Injury and sepsis. Things happened quickly; drips, super-strong antibiotics via IV and orally, and I was transferred to the Emergency Assessment Ward.”
Andrea, who left Loose Women in 2020 after 13 years on the panel, spent two nights on a ward before she was able to return home.
After the terrifying ordeal, she was told she’d lost 80 per cent capacity in one of her lungs. She was given morphine and described her experience on the ward: “[It was] a sensory overload with the screams, shouting and sound and smell of poo from people losing control of their bowels.”