I had coronavirus and was in a coma for 23 days while on a ventilator. I'm sharing photos of my hellish battle so that people understand how brutal the recovery process is.

Phillip Guttmann.Phillip Guttmann

• Phillip Guttmann is a writer, producer, and licensed therapist who lives in Los Angeles. He traveled to New York City in March and contracted COVID-19.
• He remembers calling his family to say his final goodbyes before being placed in a medically induced coma for respiratory failure. He also recalls having terrifying nightmares while in the coma for 23 days.
• Guttmann is now recovering and wants to educate others on post COVID-19 symptoms. His body is just now healing from stage-four bedsores, but he suffers from intense peripheral neuropathy (numbness and burning pain).
• His biggest plea to Americans is to wear masks and practice social distancing.
• This article contains images that some may find distressing.

I wound up among the first wave of folks to contract COVID-19 in March 2020 — and nearly died.

I was on a work trip in New York City between March 3 and March 14. Looking back, it was perhaps the worst possible timing imaginable.

When my plane took off from LAX bound for JFK, I knew that people in Italy were dying and that a few cases had found their way to mainland USA.

I was aware of a cruise ship that was stranded with sick passengers somewhere off the Pacific coast.

I knew not to wear a mask, because we needed to reserve those for medical personnel, and I knew to sanitize and wash my hands and not to touch my face.

I followed those instructions. And yet sometime between March 3 and March 14, I was part of the first wave of people to contract COVID-19.

I didn't see it coming. I worried out loud like everyone else, but I didn't really think it would happen to me.