Carl Goldman, a Santa Clarita resident and owner of KHTS Radio, is continuing to chronicle his experiences as he recovers in a Nebraska hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Back In The States With The Coronavirus – Day 15 (Wednesday)

Omaha is running low on Gatorade. I’ve been through all their rainbow flavors multiple times. Gatorade seems to be the only cure for the coronavirus (COVID-19). The orange Gatorade stain remains on my sheets, spilled days earlier. My medical team has offered to change my sheets, but I like it there. It’s become my battle scar, a friendly reminder of my challenge.

When I was a kid, my dad, who was a World War II vet, shared he had lice crawling in his hair and armpits while on the front lines in Italy. As he lay in his foxhole, his lice became a comfort to him because they represented another living thing. They were a good diversion from the death and devastation surrounding him. It’s one of the few things he ever shared with me about his wartime experience.

I am not about to compare my current challenge with our soldiers in World War II, but my Gatorade stain gives me a similar comfort.

News reports are sharing two elderly passengers on the Diamond Princess have died from the coronavirus, COVID-19. More than 600 from our ship now have the virus. Our vacation to Southeast Asia has now turned beyond tragic.

I am feeling better as I recover from my coronavirus. I no longer have a fever. My version of the virus is much milder. I am quarantined in the epicenter of the best care in the world in the biocontainment wing of Nebraska Med in Omaha.

The picture of me being carried down our 747-cargo plane and put on a stretcher at the Omaha airport has been on all the news channels. I am afraid it has become one of the photographic icons of this epidemic. If my wife, Jeri, had time to stage me better, she would have forced me to wear my Philadelphia Eagles hat because the little hair I have left on my head was a mess.

In fact, she would have a coronary each morning if she could see my hair now. I call it the “CDC-‘Doo” (Centers For Disease Control). My nurses laugh, sharing I should see their hair when they take off their very hot Hazmat suits at the end of their shift.

I keep my Philadelphia Eagles cap beside my hospital bed to quickly put it on whenever my wife, Jeri, FaceTimes me. I’ve had no comb or brush since entering the bio-containment wing at Nebraska Med.

None of that matters to me. My wife’s situation is much worse. Although she continues to test negative for the virus, Jeri is quarantined for 12 more days in a building a few blocks away. Her luggage is still lost somewhere at Travis Air Force Base, 1,657 miles away in California. The State Department and executives from Princess Cruises have been trying to connect with the right person at Travis for days. I suggested she reconnect with Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office for help. During our quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess, the senator’s office had graciously reached out to ask how they could assist.

Jeri is a trooper, going with the flow. I suspect she’s ecstatic I can’t see how her grey roots are progressing. It’s been well over six weeks since her last appointment with her hairdresser, Renee Kaehny. I believe she might be wearing HER Philadelphia Eagles cap when we FaceTime tomorrow morning.

Jeri has a treadmill, a medicine ball, a yoga mat and weights in her room. Life is now good because she finally received a hairbrush.

My exercise is more limited. I have to unhook so many monitoring devices from my body, I’m worn out even before I take my first step to my bathroom. I miss my Diamond Princess toilet, and the strength and dexterity required to flush it.

The toilet in my biocontainment room has its own quirks. It doesn’t have a heated seat, but when I flush, it releases about 40 times the amount of water our California toilet uses. It takes much longer to complete its cycle. It’s a good thing the California AQMD doesn’t know what’s going on in Nebraska.

I asked my nurse about my toilet, concerned my excretions might be contaminated. She assured me that was not the case with the coronavirus. However, she shared when they had Ebola virus victims in my quarters, they had to wait 10 minutes before flushing. I stored that piece of trivia for a future question on Jeopardy.

Later in the afternoon, the lead CDC doctor and his assistants wanted to chat with me. The computer screen in my room has a camera (one of two in my room watching me 24/7, so I am extremely careful when picking my nose), allowing patients two-way visual and audio contact between my room and CDC central command down the hall.

Government regulations require each patient to be notified every 72 hours that we are quarantined. A six-page, single-spaced small-font document was slipped through my door informing me of such. Only the feds could create something as unnecessary as this. I saved my documents for future reading, perhaps for a night with challenges falling asleep.

Our two-way communication worked fine. My CDC doctor was not wearing a Hazmat suit. He was obviously having a much better hair day than me or my nurses. He informed me when I no longer showed any signs of the novel corona virus, COVID-19, I would be tested again. If at that time I tested negative, I would be tested 24 hours later. Two negative tests would buy me my freedom. I would no longer be contagious, nor would I be a threat to spread the virus.

Unlike our virus test in Japan, the swabs taken in Omaha were more extensive. They have a lab on site, so results take hours, not days. Along with a swab going far into the back of my throat, a swab is yanked deep up my nose. One for each nostril. It is not a fun process. When my wife was tested, her swab went so far up her nostrils, it made her eyes twitch for many hours.

In the late afternoon, snow flurries hit Omaha. I could watch the flakes circling around my window, enjoying the sensation I don’t often see from my bedroom in sunny Santa Clarita, California.

The computer monitor from CDC central control was left on, allowing me to eavesdrop on their conversations. The audio was extremely loud, competing with the Democratic debate I was watching on TV. I am still deciding which one was more informative.

My fatigue hit me before the debate ended. I took my final sip of Gatorade, smiled at my orange stain and nodded off to Bernie Sanders’ thick accent assuring me my taxes would not increase.

Read All Of Carl’s Journals Here: Carl Goldman Coronavirus Journals

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

Part 8: Santa Clarita Resident Battles Coronavirus After Diamond Princess Cruise: Part 8

Part 10: Living With Coronavirus: Santa Clarita Resident Continues To Share Story — Part 10

Part 11: A Birthday In Quarantine: Santa Clarita Resident Continues Chronicling Coronavirus Recovery – Part 11

Part 12: Coronavirus Quarantine Continues As Santa Clarita Resident Recovers From COVID-19: Part 12

Part 13: Coronavirus Patient From Santa Clarita Continues To Clear Misconceptions About COVID-19: Part 13

Part 14: Third Member Of The ‘Four Amigos’ Tests Positive For Coronavirus: Part 14

Part 15: Santa Clarita COVID-19 Patient Continues Recovery In Nebraska After Contracting Coronavirus: Part 15

Part 16: Carl Continues To Test Positive For Coronavirus, Jeri Still Negative: Part 16

Part 17: Carl Still Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Jeri Prepares To Return Home: Part 17

Part 18: Jeri Cleared From Quarantine, Carl Continues Coronavirus Recovery: Part 18

Part 19: Jeri Back Home, Carl Continues Coronavirus COVID-19 Recovery In Nebraska: Part 19

Part 20: Coronavirus COVID-19 Patient Carl Goldman Continues Path To Recovery: Part 20

Read All Of Carl’s Journals Here: Carl Goldman Coronavirus Journals

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