Hi, my name is Phoenix and I am a COVID-19 survivor. I began showing typical as well as atypical symptoms, cough, (with blood but no mucus, and otherwise dry), a fever of 103.1, and difficulty breathing and painful breathing, only 6 days after an infected individual coughed in my face.

On March 2nd I went to Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Sacramento where I live. They gave me breathing treatments 3 times for 45 minutes which offered little comfort. Then they sent me home and told me to rest. March 3rd, I went to Sutter Medical Center, they just said that I had bronchitis and sent me home with an inhaler. March 4th, I went to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, they just basically blew me off saying that they didn’t know what I had but that is was probably a virus of some sort. March 5th-March 7th, I tried naturopathic treatments at home which had only some effect, my fever dropped to around 102, but I was still suffering significantly. March 8th-March 28th, I’m getting worse to the point where I can’t take it any longer and I need answers. March 28th at night, my aunt urges me to get tested for COVID-19 due to the fact that I was exposed to a known COVID-19 infected individual, so on March 29th, I was tested since Sutter now had testing sites. 4 hours later I got my results back, I had tested positive for the virus.

April 2nd I am having significantly severe trouble breathing so I text my friend to tell her to take me to the ER, so she takes me. Only a couple of hours later I am admitted and am immediately isolated in quarantine on the COVID-19 unit of the hospital. My breathing quickly goes from bad to worse. My oxygen levels drop below 90% so I am given oxygen through a mask on my face. The oxygen stays on overnight and I am also hooked up to so many IV lines and have a heart monitor attached to my chest. I am in the hospital for 9 days before I am cleared to go home.

Fastforward: May 26th, I am newly diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and a heart murmur, which was the direct result of my battle with COVID-19. May 30th, I am having a recurrence of symptoms after a second exposure that I had, but this time it’s milder, (so far). I am currently treating myself at home and am self-isolating as much as I can.