SoCal patients recovering from COVID-19 share stories of survival
Two Southern California men who had to be hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 shed light on the difficulty of defeating the coronavirus.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As thousands of Americans battle the novel coronavirus, two Southern California men who are recovering are shed light on the difficulty of defeating the virus.
Steve Schlosberg is at home with his wife in Port Hueneme, still on oxygen as he recovers from COVID-19. The 67 year old started feeling sick a month ago, isolating himself in his house, thinking he would get better.
"And unfortunately for me, that didn't happen," he said. "It actually went south."
Ten days later, Schlosberg's wife drove him to an emergency room and he was hospitalized. His condition deteriorated to the point that doctors considered putting him on a ventilator.
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"I got very lucky at the last second," he said. "Boy, I really did not want to go on that ventilator."
Southern California resident Ulises Gutierrez is also a survivor. He suffered severe symptoms for several days.
"My body was aching. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, and I was like, a flame of fire," he recalled.
Doctors initially treated the 39 year old for the flu.
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After two visits to the ER, he was admitted to the hospital, testing positive for COVID-19.
"The first few days I was really out of it... They were just medicating me to bring the fever down," Gutierrez said. "I was really dehydrated."
He is still weak but is back at home.
"I'm on four different types of medicines," he said. "Each day I am getting better, but I do wake up with anxiety of not knowing what's next."
Steve Schlosberg's advice to anyone battling the virus is to stay positive.
"It's scary, y'know a lot of things can happen very fast," he said. "And if I recovered the way I've recovered, no matter what your symptoms are, you can recover, too."
