COVID-19 patient admitted to Cape Coral Hospital wishes she’d been vaccinated

A woman shared her story with us about her ongoing experience battling coronavirus in a Southwest Florida hospital.

Shannon Ruvelas says it’s lonely, scary, and preventable.

When COVID-19 began to spread in the community, Ruvelas said you wouldn’t catch her without a mask and hand sanitizer. She said she recently let her guard down.

For about the past four months, Ruvelas said she stopped taking all of those precautions — not taking the virus seriously.

“If I could change my mind and go back again, I would get the vaccine,” Ruvelas said. “I’ve never been this sick in my entire life.”

Ruvelas’ symptoms became serious enough she needed to be admitted to Cape Coral Hospital recently.

“It is something that’s out there trying to kill people,” Ruvelas said. “You know, there’s young people down there that are sick. They’re skinny people. You know, I’m like, ‘Oh, he shouldn’t be sick with COVID. He looks really healthy.’”

Ruvelas, 43, felt healthy before contracting the virus. Now, taking a couple of steps knocks the wind out of her.

“To walk to the bathroom, the oxygen level drops below 90 every time,” Ruvelas explained. “And, you know, that’s with oxygen, so this is gonna take a while.”

Ruvelas is thinking much differently now that she is personally experiencing the effects of COVID-19.

“It’s changed me for life. It’s changed my perspective. Why? Because it scares you,” Ruvelas said. “You see the suffering of the nurses, the doctors, the people downstairs in the waiting room when you’re waiting.”

Ruvelas says the care has been wonderful, but the staff is overwhelmed.

“I waited eight hours to get to like an emergency doctor,” Ruvelas said. “But they know what they’re doing.”

There’s one thing she wished she did before she found herself in the hospital.

“I was against the vaccine the entire time,” Ruvelas said. “But then about five days ago, before I came in here, when I felt as sick as I did before I came in, I had wished I had gotten the vaccine.”

Ruvelas hopes to get out of the hospital soon. Doctors treated her with drug remdesivir. She says it saved her life. Now, she hopes her story will save someone else’s.