I was hospitalized with leptospirosis, Weil’s Disease, in August 2021. The risk of this disease sits at the back of the mind of many river and lake swimmers, but it very rarely materialises. It did so in my mind too, until. Until the intense burning and body chills, head and body aches, falling and falling blood pressure took me to hospital and intensive care. The clinical descriptions of the disease do not do justice to the metabolic and physiological roller-coaster I went on. This took me to some strange places in my head, and subsequently made me revisit the risks of contracting this vile disease. This podcast is an account of my treatment-seeking experience, real and hallucinatory, as my condition worsened, into sepsis, and out again, with the expertise and integrated hard work of the medical staff of the University of Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital. Heroes all. I have called it my night at the opera, a hospital drama with music. 

The cover image is a copper engraving by Wilhelm Jury (after Johann Heinrich Ramberg) of Tamino chased by a deadly serpent from the opening of Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute".  

The music in a 'Night at the Opera' is Nubya Garcia and “Source”; Mozart and “The Queen of the Night’s aria” and “Ihr gotter, was ist das?” from “The Magic Flute”(Cheryl Studer as the Queen of the Night); David Bowie and “Space Oddity”; Diana Krall and “I love being here with you”; GoGo Penguin and “Kora - remix”. Opening music is 'Noe Noe' by Castro, and the ending music is ‘Vienna Beat’ by Radio Pink, both on Blue Dot Sessions.