Regina entertainer recounts 'nightmare' ICU experience with COVID to show it can happen to anyone - Action News
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Saskatchewan

Regina entertainer recounts 'nightmare' ICU experience with COVID to show it can happen to anyone

Rey Capario was in hospital for three weeks, two of them sedated in the ICU.

Rey Capario was in hospital for 3 weeks, 2 of them sedated in the ICU

Rey Capario was in the ICU intubated and sedated for two weeks after contracting COVID-19. (Submitted by Rey Capario)

When Regina entertainer Rey Capario woke up from his sedative-inducedcoma in the ICU, he asked the doctors why they were doing this to him. In the moment, he had forgotten his battle with COVID-19.

"I feel like I am dead. That is really the feeling," Capario said. "I can hear voices, I see lights. Lights as if I am in my own burial. It's really that morbid."

The entertainer was in a coma for two weeks sohis body could recover from COVID-19. It's going to be a long path forward.

Capario said he most likelycontractedCOVID-19from his husband's gym. Capario's husband tested positive first.

"Mine got worse than his," he said. "I started coughing and then I cannot breathe anymore, and so I told him to call 911, so they immediately brought me to the ICU."

In a screenshot from a video call, Rey Capario's husband speaks to him while Capario was intubated in the Regina ICU. (Submitted by Rey Capario)

The two were separated for the first time, as Capario had never been hospitalized before,and his husband couldn't visit. Capariohad pneumonia along with COVID-19 and had to be intubated. He was told he'd be put into a coma for six weeks.

"It was really so devastating," Caprino said. "Before I got sedated, I told the doctor, 'Bring me home safely, please. Because my husband is waiting for me.' Then after that, I fell asleep."

Two weeks later, Capario was woken upby a doctor who was suctioning his lungs.

"When I woke up, immediately woke up, I yelled at the doctor and others, why are you doing this to me? Because I don't know. Like, I forgot everything already," he said. "The ordeal, the COVID that I went through,is just really a nightmare."

Rey Capario (right) and his husband are now recovering at home after Capario's ICU experience. (Submitted by Rey Capario)

Capario was observed in the ICU for two days before being moved to make spacefor another patient. He remained in hospitalfor a week before being sent home. Capario said he's still having memory lapses, but it's comfortableto be at home.

"This can also happen to the children who will go to school, to those who are going to offices, to those who are delivering meals, to everybody. Any walks of life," he said. "I wouldn't want to wish this to happen to anybody."

Rey Capario and his husband show off their wedding rings. The two are now recovering at home from COVID-19. (Submitted by Rey Capario)

Capario said the health-care workers helping him went above and beyond what was asked of them.

"People don't know what the virus is like until they experience 'the nightmare,'"Capario said.

He said people should be careful of their decisions and keep safe.