A firefighter of the Richmond Fire Department tested positive for COVID-19, and 17 days later, he’s still trying to get back to full health.
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News Center 7's Mike Campbell spoke with Nick Arbogast, 32, about the virus that sent him to the hospital.
Arbogast began having symptoms on March 25.
"I became real short of breath," he said.
He quickly began feeling aches and then got a bad fever.
"I had possible exposure to a patient a few days before."
Arbogast told his bosses and went to a doctor the next day, but was sent home to self-quarantine without a test.
"My wife would leave meals outside the door, I've got three little kids here, it's been crazy," he said.
Arbogast couldn't shake his fever, became more tired and developed a cough and headaches.
On the thirteenth day, he went to Reid Hospital, where COVID-19 was confirmed with lab work and a chest x-ray showed double pneumonia.
"They started me on hydroxy chloroquine."
The medicine President Trump pushed for had him feeling better in 24 hours, Arbogast told Mike Campbell.
He stayed three nights at the hospital and then went back into quarantine at home while waiting for his last test to show negative.
It's difficult for his wife Kylah, his daughter, son and newborn baby.
"I can talk with them, interact but have to keep a 6 foot distance, I have a six month old son, it's hard to distance myself from him."
Arbogast said his wife Kylah kept firends informed with a series of social media posts, and kept him from bottoming out.
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He can’t wait to get back to his family without restrictions, and hopes to be back to the fire department in May -- just in time for his fourth anniversary as a firefighter.
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