-My first symptom showed up on March 8th,
I believe it was.
It was just a slight cough.
I thought it was allergies.
And so I decided to go in and get some Allegra.
The cough kind of developed into stomach pains,
a migraine, loss of appetite, loss of energy, et cetera.
Once my respiratory issues started developing,
that's when I decided I needed to come in.
I went to urgent medical to go get tested.
I had been exercising pretty diligent hygiene
and social distancing.
And being in school and working full time,
I don't really have much time to go out anyway recently.
The prior weekend, I had a funeral to attend
and after the funeral went bowling with a buddy of mine,
who we determined was the one that got me sick.
It was when it took me an hour
to get from my bed to the bathroom down the hall
and back when my roommate suggested,
"Dude, this isn't good.
You need to go out and get yourself tested out
by something more serious."
There's no reason that somebody who's 29 and healthy
should take that long just to get down to the bathroom
and get back.
I was worried about, you know, just the --
I was thinking about the ambulance bill.
But, you know, all things said and done,
it looks like it was the right decision.
It wasn't until -- So I got to the hospital.
The doctor said --
originally said that they were gonna discharge me
'cause my oxygen levels looked fine.
And I was thinking, "This doesn't make sense.
Like, the issue is not that my oxygen levels are an issue.
It's when I'm changing positions."
And I explained that to him.
He said, "Alright, let's do a quick walk around the room."
I could barely stand up.
And he said, "Okay, well, I've seen enough.
We'll keep you here for a little bit."
After that happened, while he was gone,
the nurse was in the room.
I got a call from urgent medical
with my COVID results being positive.
So I didn't flatline, but my family did get called in
to come give their last message to me.
That was tough.
I remember when I had my out-of-body experience,
I remember hearing --
There was a pink light that said,
"You've got 30 minutes to tell your loved ones,
you know, what you need to tell them."
I remember hearing --
After finding out that my family came back --
You know, you don't remember something
until somebody tells you about it.
I remember hearing, you know, my parents say, like,
"Pull through this, Francis.
You'll make it.
We're rooting for you."
And it's really hard.
Being on a respirator is awful.
I didn't know this, but apparently I tried
to rip the tube out when I was under.
It's awful.
Recovery's been tricky.
There are lots of bumps and bruises.
It's not a linear process.
And I tend to think fairly linearly.
I like structure and order, and with something like this,
you take two steps forward and one step back.
But at least I'm taking steps.
And I'm in a position to do that,
which is way better than the alternative.
I don't know how much weight I've lost here.
My parents and I had a $100 bet each
to see who could lose 15 pounds first.
I think safe to say I won.
The medical staff's been incredible.
I can't shower them with enough praise.
I literally owe them all my life.
We got back here, like, a small window --
whoops -- a small window, and it's reverse oxygenated
so that it blows all the catchy germs or pathogens
out the window itself.
And then it's got a bathroom back there.
I managed to keep down, like, an actual meal today,
so for breakfast, you know, I had eggs, sausage.
I actually could taste the sausage, which was great,
because one of the weird lasting symptoms --
lingering symptoms is everything has a COVID taste.
You get, like, a similar smell and taste for everything.
Despite, like, a stomach issue,
so you got to fight through that.
I had no idea that there was even a possibility of me
being under for 10 days like
I was, let alone all the rest of the time
that I was stuck in ICU, that I almost died.
It's --
You know, this is something that can affect anybody.
This disease does not discriminate.
Today's April 2, 2020.
I'm a COVID-19 survivor.
I'm getting discharged right now,
and just looking forward to going home.