A Santa Clarita resident, and owner of KHTS Radio, Carl Goldman, is sharing his story of the battle with Coronavirus after the Diamond Princess cruise.
Back In The States With The Coronavirus – Day 14 (Tuesday)
I have the coronavirus, COVID-19. This is my second day in the biocontainment unit at the Nebraska Medical Center – Omaha. The hospital is part of the University of Nebraska medical campus. It’s one of the top medical centers in the country.
Our journey began on a cruise on the Diamond Princess throughout exotic southeast Asia and now it is hopefully winding down in the thrilling city of Omaha. Although we still don’t have our luggage.
I am fine. My fever broke yesterday. It came back for a few hours overnight with a 100.7 reading. I am told the 14-day quarantine meter starts all over again each time I have a fever. If that is true, I am back to Day 1. My temperature is taken every three hours. Each time it comes up normal, I feel as if I’ve won the lottery, the Superbowl and the Daytona 500 combined.
My biocontainment unit is one of three in the country. The other two are in New York and Atlanta. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) set these up during the Anthrax attacks in 2001. It was not used.
In December 2014, the Ebola virus hit the United States. That is the first time our Omaha unit was put into action. I am now the second time the unit has been activated. The bio-med team has done many, many drills in between. They are beyond awesome.
I am hooked up with many monitors 24/7. It’s a process getting unhooked when I need to go to the bathroom or walk circles around my room to get my circulation going.
My monitors are attached all over my body. An EKG, oxygen levels and blood pressure monitors create a tangle of wires that becomes an ordeal to unhook.
Yesterday, I suspected my biocontainment team had a device attached to monitor my farts. That was confirmed when I passed a little gas and a loud beeping went off. I later learned it was just a coincidence. My imagination is getting the better of me.
My wife, Jeri, is quarantined in another building on the Nebraska Medicine campus. She is in good health. She continues to test negative for the novel corona virus, COVID-19. Facetime is our way to connect.
On Monday, six of us were flown from Travis Air Force base outside Sacramento to Omaha. We never left our cargo 747 after leaving Japan and landing at Travis.
I did not know I had the virus when we left Japan. My fever hit a couple of hours into our flight. My lab work yesterday, here in Omaha, confirmed I tested positive.
When I realized I had a fever, I was quarantined with eight other passengers. Three of us continued our quarantine during the Travis-to-Omaha leg of our flight. The other six remained in California.
Our spouses flew in a different section of our aircraft. Jeri is now the only one not infected. The same is true for our friend, Mark Jorgensen. He doesn’t have the virus. He’s quarantined at Travis Air Force base in northern California.
The virus hit Mark’s wife, Jerri, a few days before we departed from the Diamond Princess. She is doing fine, healing in a hospital in Fukushima, Japan, about four hours from our ship in Yokohama harbor. Rumor has it she will soon be removed to a quarantine facility in Tokyo. Her 14 days will begin all over again. Yikes.
Despite all the monitors attached to me, there is no medication being given. My only medication is (drum roll, please) Gatorade. This virus is so unknown, there is no cure except to allow it to work its way through my system. There are no antibiotics, no IVs, not even nose drops, just Gatorade.
I have a rainbow of Gatorade bottles. I was given a straw without asking. I don’t use it. It sits next to my bed as my souvenir. In California I might get arrested for stashing that straw, I kid you not. In Nebraska having a straw is still legal.
As I sipped on my orange Gatorade, some spilled on my sheets. It is now a dried orange stain creating an interesting pattern under my body. I am thankful I didn’t spill the red Gatorade. My bio-containment team already has enough challenges.
Earlier this morning, at 3:18 a.m. to be exact, my nurse entered my room in her full hazmat gear to take a daily sample of my blood. I am curious why most hospitals do this in the middle of the night. I believe it is either a nasty plot to get even with their patients, or the Teamsters Union had finally penetrated Nebraska.
I slept a lot throughout the day. I am not sure if I am feeling lethargic because of the virus, my high fever on the flight, the 24-hour traveling ordeal from Yokohama, or jetlag from the 19-hour time difference between Japan and Omaha. I suspect it is a combination of all of these. Other than feeling lethargic and a slight cough, I am feeling fine. I am convinced I will power through this. I suspect once I leave, I won’t be drinking Gatorade for quite some time.
I have my laptop, iPhone, kindle and a television, with my very own remote (see earlier episode). I can stay amused. When I feel a little stronger, I plan to take that remedial online class, “How to Use My iPhone,” that College of the Canyons Chancellor Dianne Van Hook and my wife, Jeri, have been coaxing me to audit. The KHTS staff is very aware of my lack of phone skills. My team will be the first to cheer me on when I enroll.
Jeri has been spending a lot of time posting on social media to keep family and friends informed. That’s very dangerous territory. While most comments are positive and supportive, there are a bunch that are nasty and vile. She’s a trooper and has learned to work past the haters to keep everyone in the loop.
Reading through these comments, I realize many are coming from ignorance. The CDC is NOT going to release us until they are 100 percent sure we cannot spread the virus. What Washington bureaucrat or politician would want to take that risk? Especially in an election year.
Also, to be totally clear, I did not know I had the virus until a couple of hours into our plane ride from Japan when I woke up to a high fever. On the day our friend, Jerri Jorgensen, tested positive, my wife and I had saliva swabs taken aboard the Diamond Princess. It was a precautionary measure because of our proximity to Jerri throughout our quarantine. Those samples were sent to a Tokyo lab. We never received the results, having already left the ship.
As of this writing, both my wife, Jeri, and Jerri Jorgensen’s husband, Mark, are free of the virus. Those who get the virus appear to be totally random.
Today we learned 545 passengers and crew from the Diamond Princess now have the coronavirus, COVID-19. That translates to approximately one in every six people onboard. I believe that number will keep climbing.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger is a rock star. At a hearing this week, she wisely recommended we educate everyone about the virus. She said that we don’t want to create a new level of discrimination. I encourage everyone to watch this two-minute clip:
I capped off my day counting my blessings. I have my health and a wonderful support group of my wife, friends and family. However, the blessing that tops the list is having total control of the television remote. That’s a first in my marriage.
Part 1: Santa Clarita Residents Share First-Hand Account Of Quarantine On Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Due To Coronavirus
Part 2: Santa Clarita Residents Share First-Hand Experience Of Coronavirus Quarantine On Diamond Princess: Part Two
Part 3: Santa Clarita Residents Share First-Hand Experience Of Coronavirus Quarantine On Diamond Princess
Part 4: Trapped In The Coronavirus Quarantine Aboard The Diamond Princess: Part Four
Part 5: Santa Clarita Residents Share Emotions As They Prepare To Leave Coronavirus Quarantine Cruise: Part Five
Part 6: Santa Clarita Residents To Return To United States After Coronavirus Quarantine On Diamond Princess: Part Six
Part 7: Santa Clarita Resident Diagnosed With Coronavirus Sets Record Straight: Part 7
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