INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Amanda Wood of Johnson County tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday but she has been battling symptoms since March 14.

Her symptoms got so bad she found herself in the hospital and nearly being put on a ventilator.

Wood travels often for her job. The first week of March, she flew to Arizona and, the next week, she flew to Baltimore.

“I came home on Wednesday of that week and by Saturday I was showing symptoms,” said Wood.

When her symptoms started she knew she was sick but could not have predicted what was to come.

“I literally felt like I was dying. It started with just like a runny nose and I had that for a couple of hours and then my body just hurt and it was a hurt that I just can’t explain. Not the normal flu hurt but just where I couldn’t even hardly move,” said Wood.

She called her doctor. They suspect she picked up the virus while in Baltimore or on the plane ride back based on the timing of her symptoms.

She couldn’t get a test at the time. She isolated herself at home and, after a week, she thought she was on the mend.

“Then by that following Tuesday, it was like it was starting all over again. And it got to the point where I felt literally like I was drowning. My lungs felt like they were drowning,” said Wood.

Her husband rushed her to the hospital. He wasn’t allowed to go in with her.

Already nervous, Wood was met with a startling reality check of what the fight against the coronavirus looks like from the front lines.

“When I was getting triaged the nurse, on her mask that she had, she had March 15 written on it and I was going in on March 25,” said Wood.

Wood has spent 20 years of her life working in hospitals. She knows that personal protective gear (PPE) should be changed out between every patient, especially during a time like this. Seeing a nurse whose mask was presumably used for 10 days at that point made her realize how difficult the situation is becoming.

Once she was admitted, her CT scans confirmed her assumptions before her test ever came back positive. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia. Her worst fears started to become a possibility.

“When you were there you are scared that you are going to die and you are not going to be able to say goodbye to your family and no one is going to be around you when you die,’”said Wood.

Doctors told her if her oxygen levels would have dropped any more, she would have been put on a ventilator.

Wood, however, recover edenough to go home. She thought the hardest part was over but now as her quarantine continues she is meet with a new challenge.

“The worst part is hearing my family out there and not being able to be with them and see them, and I want to hug them so bad because I mean I just had the scare of my life and I can’t hug them,’ said Wood.

Wood had to start her quarantine over when she got home from the hospital Friday. She is still dealing with symptoms including body aches, headaches,and exhaustion.