KHTS owner Carl Goldman continues to fight through health issues that came up after returning home from a weeks-long coronavirus quarantine, maintaining the same optimism that helped him defeat his own case of COVID-19 back in March.

A Brief Thanks

Many of you will be disappointed to learn that Carl is still unable to write these updates himself, so for the time being you’re stuck with me (KHTS News Director Michael Brown).

Before we get into what’s new with Carl, I want to take a moment to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support given for not just Carl, but for his wife Jeri as well. 

As someone who writes news for a living, I’ve learned to not read the comments section of the stories I write for the sake of my own sanity. In fact, I did not look at any comments made on Carl’s last update until the following Sunday, after my grandmother-in-law urged me to do so.

When I read them, I was blown away by the overwhelming positivity and care that the vast majority of people had for the Goldmans. In this time of heightened tension and bickering on social media, it was comforting to see that we can still come together as a community and rally behind one of our own.

Some people from the community even shared that they had either gone through or knew someone that experienced what Carl was battling, and we were able to get some of those connected with Carl directly to offer support.

So again, thank you for all of the love and prayers you have all been sending the Goldmans’ way. It really does bring a smile to their faces to know they live in such a supportive community.

Anyways, you didn’t click on this article to hear me ramble, you came to see how Carl is doing. Let’s dive in.

Learning To Walk Again — Carl Goldman — Day 218 (Wednesday, Sept. 9)

When we last heard from Carl, he had been diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), a neurological disorder characterized by “progressive weakness and impaired sensory function in the legs and arms” (read all about how we got to this point here if you need to catch up).

Carl went to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital to undergo a process known as plasmapheresis, which involved separating the plasma from his blood, and replacing it with either healthy plasma or a plasma substitute.

Unfortunately, the process did not work.

“That went on for five days, and failed miserably,” he told me over the phone Friday. “It did not help with the numbness, and it weakened my body so much that I couldn’t even walk with a walker.”

As a result of this, Carl spent over three weeks in Henry Mayo, where he worked to learn how to walk again and strengthen his fingers, all the while looking for alternative treatments.

“I’m now visiting other doctors in the upcoming weeks, and running more tests to see what the alternatives are to try and get a handle on this,” he said during treatment on Wednesday. “At the moment, I can’t walk without the walker, and my hands are numb so the dexterity and the use in my hands is very limited.”

During his stay at Henry Mayo, Carl told me that he would hear what he believed to be an ice cream truck drive by the hospital playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

“I was really confused that an ice cream truck would be going around Henry Mayo,” he said. “Finally one of the staff members told me that they would play the song through their P.A. system every time a new person was born in Santa Clarita.”

In addition to Henry Mayo, Carl has visited Providence Holy Cross for treatment. He says that the staff from both hospitals have been “awesome.”

Carl now uses his walker to get around, but still struggles with numbness in his hands and legs.

“Most of my day is spent with therapy and talking on the phone,” he said. “I’ve learned to adjust. It’s still very very frustrating, I want to operate like the old Carl. So I take what I can do and make sure I’m able to do those things.”

Down, But Not Out

Despite his daily struggle against the CIDP, Carl largely remains optimistic.

“My goal is still to be skiing by next winter,” he said. “So many friends have said that they want to ski with me.”

While he has stopped drinking the Gatorade that many of our readers attributed his recovery from COVID to, Carl says his energy level “keeps getting better every single day.”

“I’m still sleeping roughly 11 hours a night, as compared to six I used to,” he said. “My body needs that right now, so I’ve been following what my body has been telling me to do.”

I can personally attest to Carl’s progress in this area. When I talked to him on the phone on Friday, he sounded markedly better than he did back in July. I even got to meet with him in-person the next day to work on some upcoming projects, including a series of on-air interviews with local political candidates. He seemed alert and in good spirits the whole time.

When Carl was first diagnosed with CIDP, we barely heard from him here in the newsroom, as he was focused on his recovery. However, since our last update, he has called, texted, and emailed me on multiple occasions to work on various items together.

Other members of the newsroom have also received similar communication from Carl. In the past, we may have been mildly annoyed by the constant barrage of questions and instructions he would give us. Now, we take each one happily, and count it as a blessing that he is well enough to reach out to us.

As Carl has recovered, his wife Jeri has taken over many aspects of their life that he would usually be responsible for, from his role at the radio station to day-to-day grocery shopping.

“Jeri has been super with all of this,” Carl said. “She’s taken the full load of this.”

Carl’s COVID Advice

Many readers have asked what role Carl’s COVID diagnosis played in the development of his CIDP. Long-time readers will remember that Carl had been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) before leaving for his cruise on the Diamond Princess (again, here if you need to catch up).

“My body did a great job fighting COVID, but during those 10 weeks I wasn’t dealing with the GBS,” Carl said.

While Carl believes that his struggle with COVID-19 left his body unable to properly fight off the GBS and subsequent CIDP, he also said that doctors “really don’t know” if the two are related.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever know,” he said. “We may never know.”

As Carl continues to recover from CIDP, he has also kept up with the updates regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which he believes the county and world need to “get past.”

“My belief is that we will get past that by opening things up,” he said. 

However, Carl says that people need to be “smart about it,” including the use of facial coverings in public.

“I wear a mask every time I go out,” he said. “The point is to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

Carl qualified that he thought the decision to wear masks should be left to individuals and local organizations, and not mandated “from the top.”

“We’re smart, we’re responsible, it should be up to each area to make a decision,” he concluded. “It should not be a decision made on the federal or state level.”

Read All Of Carl’s (and Michael’s) Journals Here: Carl Goldman Coronavirus Journals

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