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'I just felt like something was really really wrong' Coronavirus survivors answer questions about the virus

Two men who both were positively diagnosed with COVID-19 answered questions from the ABC10 audience to provide more perspective on what they went through.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Coronavirus survivors have been sharing their stories, but people still have plenty of questions.

Mike Duffy spoke with 33-year-old Manuel Castro and 42-year-old Todd Calongne, two men who were both positively diagnosed with COVID-19, to ask them the questions ABC10 received from viewers.

Question from Zianna Welker: What made you go get checked out?

“What made me get checked out was I had a fever. I felt really out of it, like delirious,” said Castro. “The lack of smell, lack of taste. And I just felt like something was really really wrong, like, I never felt these symptoms before. It wasn’t like the normal flu or any cold or anything like that. It felt really really different like I never felt before.”

“I was in constant test communication with my doctor,” explained Calongne. “So I would text her my symptoms and then she would message back. Finally, I said, ‘I think I’m feeling better but I have shortness of breath.’ And she says immediately, ‘Come get checked out. I want to give you a test because shortness of breath is one of the telltale symptoms.’”

Question from Ruth Winsor Wooden: What were the medications and treatments that helped you the most?

“The biggest one they did was that trial medication,” said Castro. “I’m reading stories about 'Remdesivir', that medication that’s doing really well in the clinical trials. That one seemed to turn me around a lot. They were also giving me antibiotics because I developed bilateral pneumonia, which is another complication of the virus.”

“Towards the end, I used Mucinex to get rid of some of the congestion,” said Calongne. “And the other things I used were hot tea and soups to help clear out congestion.”

Question from Carolena Bailey: How many days did the worst of it last?

“It happened so fast,” admitted Castro. “Apparently when this virus takes over you really fast, it happens really fast. And your lungs start to decline really fast. And mine was within an hour. You’re breathing really fast, and you’re kind of, you’re really scared because you can’t really breathe well. And then to make it worse, you get to the hospital and they put you out and you have no time to call your family or friends.”

“So it was bad at first, it got a little bit better, then it got scary, you know, about a week or so in,” recalled Calongne. “So the bad part, from bad to not feeling scary any more was about 10 days.”

Continue the conversation with Mike on Facebook.

Read more about coronavirus from ABC10

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