β€˜I Didn't Think I Was Going to Make It out Alive': San Diego ICU Nurse Battles COVID-19

"I didn't think I was going to make it out alive," said Marianna Cisneros, 30, about her time hospitalized due to COVID-19

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A San Diego Intensive Care Unit nurse said she went from fitness competitions to struggling to walk following her diagnosis with COVID-19.

"I did not expect to get knocked down as much as I did," Marianna Cisneros. "My symptoms from the very beginning started out neurological, I started losing vision in the right eye and I developed pretty high blood pressure."

The 30-year-old nurse is a mother of three and also a fitness competitor, she said she's always had a healthy lifestyle but is now dealing with extreme complications from COVID-19.

"It's just been a whirlwind. I'm you know numb on the right side, and sometimes it's very difficult to walk," she said. "It just comes in waves. I have good days, and I have bad days."

Cisnero's fight with the coronavirus is what sent her back to the hospital, but this time as a patient.

"It was pretty difficult to not even be able to use the restroom on your own and you know you just never think that COVID could really bring someone at my age with no underlying health conditions as far as down as it did," Cisnero said.

The nurse was hospitalized for six days while she struggled with shortness of breath and developed two brain lesions.

"To be honest with you, I didn't think I was going to make it out alive," she said. "It was really tough I was praying and that's all you can do when you when your body is just failing you in every way possible."

It's been three months since Cisneros had the virus, but she is still recovering and considers herself a post-COVID long hauler.

"I am fighting with every cell in my body to try and get back to work and get back to normal realistically," Cisneros said.

Cisneros said luckily none of her children or her husband caught the virus, she is urging the community to stay vigilant.

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