Through My Eyes

Try walking in my shoes

2010-08-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in life we feel like we are never understood. No matter how hard we try for others to understand what we see and go through in life never seems to work.. I can talk to people about how difficult it is working in the ER and I don't think they'll ever understand until they see first hand what I do as a nurse. I can talk to people about how amazingly mind blowing a Blue Man Group show is, but they'll never know what it's really like until they sit through an entire show. I can tell people how beautiful and blue the Caribbean waters are in the Bahamas, but they'll never understand until they actually see it first hand.

One thing in life I've rediscovered is my faith and nothing makes me happier on a Sunday morning than to be able to go to church. I've discovered Christ Church of Orlando and it's been one of the most amazing experiences that I've ever had in life. I never thought I'd be able to go back to church since I was raised in the Catholic church and I was never able to get "the feeling" in church, but I've since then I've discovered it. It took me a long time to actually come out of my shell in the church and now I'm worshiping and praising the Lord now more than ever. Wait a second though, back up; I'm a nurse right? I work crazy shifts and crazy hours. I work 3 days a week, 12 hour shifts and most of the time, this consumes my Sunday. Well, maybe I can attend Wednesday night prayer group? No, it's completey shattered unless I'm actually off from work that entire day. Now let me tell you, nothing makes me happier than being in church and being able to worship God and no, that does not stop me at home either, but when I'm away from church for more than a week, I start to lose "the feeling." My point is that I wish I could do more with and for my church. I feel like it's not truly understood by people why I don't attend church every Sunday, and this is what I want to share with people. Sometimes I'm in church one Sunday and then I won't show up again for another 3 weeks. This isn't because I stayed out late on Saturday night getting drunk or because I didn't feel like getting out of bed that morning. It's because I'm doing my job. I'm doing what I'm actually meant to be doing with my life, and no, it's not easy. Let me give you a scenario with what it's like on a Sunday, and yes this actually happened around 12pm, when I would ave typically been in church.

I hear on our medic radio "medic 62 to hospital 600, code 99." I feel that adrenaline rush in my body because I know what a code 99 means. This means that someone is in cardiac arrest. I stand and listen as one of our other nurses replies to the medic and listen in shock as I hear that they are bringing us a 4 year old boy, not breathing, no pulse who fell into the pool while the mother turned her head for 2 minutes. I swallow the nervousness and put a tough face on and tell myself that I'm going to help with this code. I wait about 2-5 minutes and see the little boy brought in on the stretcher being rushed into our "room 5" which is our code room. I walk in; the tension is so thick that it could be cut with a knife as everyone is rushing around this little lifeless body and hook him up to the monitors and attempt to find a second IV site. I race around as I try to help the doctors. I run and grab a bag of saline to heat up because this little boy's temperature has dropped. Once I bring the saline back in the room, everyone is situated and hoping to get a pulse on the monitor. I can't help but to look at this little 4 year old; he's still in his bathing suit, his arm floats are still on his arm deflated, and his blonde hair is still wet from being in the pool. I can't help but to think, why is God going to take this little boy away from the world? His little body is turning blue by the minute and I know as more time is going by, his chances are fading. After approximately an hour of compressions and multiple attempts at IV's, medications, IV fluids, and no heart reaction I know that our doctor is getting ready to "call" this code. As we all continue to look back and forth from the monitor to the little boy, our doctor quietly says "we need to go get his family." He then sighs and says "okay, we are calling it." It seems as if a dark cloud hovers over the room as everyone slows down, turns monitors off, and attempts to clean this little lifeless body off so his parents can get their last look at their son. I walk out of the room, and that's it for me. It wasn't technically "my patient" so my part of assisting with the code was finished. Now I have to pull myself together as I'm mentally and physically drained. I realized that the full code took an hour and a half and now I have new patients, charting, and meds to give. It's very difficult as a nurse to skip one hour of work as you tend to fall behind. I rush over to each of my patients to check on everyone and sit down to do some documenting. I look to my right as I watch the parents of the child go into the room to see their recently passed son. The mother is staggering with a look of lifelessness in her face and tears streaming from her face and the father holding onto the mothers arm with our charge nurse at their side. As soon as they enter the room, my I felt my heart push up into my throat as the painful screams flow out of the room. It's the most difficult thing ever to listen to. Imagine screaming and crying at the maximum mixed in with heartbreak, pain, devastation, and shock. By this time, it's almost 2pm. I say a little prayer and think to myself. Why did I just have to witness something so devastating when I could have been in church. I know there's a reason that I had to witness and help out with something like this. I attempt to bring myself together as I continue to listen to the painful screams out of room 5. I hear the mother yelling heartbreaking words like "why??" and "no!!" I walk on and try my best to focus on my patients at that point. The rest of the day was a drag. I ended up with a lot of needy, angry patients and stayed behind on my charting for the rest of the day. I'm mentally and physically exhausted as I drive home. I'm irritable and feel as if the day was so unfair to so many people. As I drove home that evening I thought to myself; did anyone really realize what I went through today? No, I think, and they probably never will.

So, it's reasons like these that I'm not able to attend church each and every Sunday. I'm not a party girl; I'm far from it. I don't skip church or don't go because I just don't feel like going. I want people to understand what it's like for me on a Sunday morning. I don't have a typical Monday through Friday 9 to 5 job and I never will. I guess it's just the simple fact that God is putting me to work to try to help people like the parents of this little boy get through situations like these. I just ask for the prayers for everyone out there that reads this to help me become a stronger person. It's not easy dealing with situations like these. I'd like to conclude with this; each and every Sunday after church the phrase "Have a blessed week" appears on the big screen in front of us. Most of the time I have to switch it around to say "Have a blessed month," because I know I won't be able to be there.

Final thoughts of NCL’s Epic

2010-08-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

Joe and I recently had the honor of attending the inaugural sailing of Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest, largest, and most innovative ship. Thanks in part to Blue Man Productions I was honored to be able to attend a sailing during this inaugural sailing. I was thoroughly impressed and I do have to say that the Epic definitely lived up to its name.

After the Norwegian Epic has made her debut early in July, she will continue to sail out of the Port of Miami alternating between Western and Eastern cruise routes. The Western Caribbean stops include beautiful ports of call in Mexico and Honduras. In the Eastern Caribbean, guests will be able to indulge in the beauty of St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and The Bahamas. The Epic’s second season in May-October 2011 will take her transatlantic to sail out of Barcelona Spain and will feature seven day cruises with stops in Florence/Pisa, Napes Italy, and Palma, Majorca Spain.

Upon arrival to the Port of Miami, we were able to check in quickly and hop on board within no time. I like the fact that we were able to carry our own luggage to our rooms ourselves. I find this much more convenient than some other cruise lines as I previously have attended. Usually the larger bags have to be checked and delivered to your room. (Now keep in mind that this was the inaugural sailing and check in may be different during a normal scheduled cruise.) The first thing I noticed after arriving onboard was the beauty of this ship. Everything is so rich, colorful, and elegant looking. From the up-lighting, to the colors, to an amazing chandelier in the middle of the promenade (which you couldn’t help but to stop and look at each and every time you pass by) everything will trigger your senses in multiple aspects.

A view of Miami, FL cityscape from the 12th deck of the NCL Epic

I was thoroughly impressed once we arrived to our room. We were lucky enough to be able to get a balcony suite with an amazing view of the ocean. The balcony rooms have a bit of a curve around the walls to make it look larger than it really is. The TV is a plasma flat-screen; there is a sitting area, vanity area, and plenty of room for your luggage. The walk in shower actually opens up into the main room area, but curtains are provided for privacy. Other room options are inside rooms, deluxe balconies, spa balconies, and of course deluxe owner’s suites. The Epic also caters to the single traveler, which really impresses me. There are studio suites designed for solo travelers with their own private room, bed, and bathroom area. The singles are given access to a living room area to hang out with other solo travelers. I like the idea of this as I’ve always been an independent person. If I were single I would definitely take advantage of the studio suites.

The pool and outdoor area on the Epic was impressive as it features their first ever aqua park at sea featuring 3 waterslides. Imagine a full on water park while sailing in the middle of the ocean. The Epic plunge is one of the more popular slides as it represents a large bowl through a 200 foot long tube. The purple waterslide will propel you right through the rock climbing wall, and the green slide is 3 stories high and has plenty of twists and turns. There are a total of 2 main pools, 5 hot tubes, and a children’s play area. If rock climbing is something that interests you, you can choose to either rappel down the wall, or climb 33 feet up the wall. The Epic also caters to the health conscious and athletes with fitness centers, basketball court, volleyball court, and even an ice skating rink. Ice skating in your bathing suit? Now that’s Epic!

The Epic features entertaining show such as Blue Man Group, Cirque Dreams, Legends in Concert, The Second City Comedy Troupe, and Nickelodeon at Sea. There is also plenty of nightlife, casinos, bars, and dance clubs along with 4 onboard bowling alleys. They also feature something very unique called Spice H2O. During the day it is used as a pool area, but at night the water is covered with a dance floor. Lights, music, and drinks take over this area with tiered seating and lounge chairs facing the dance floor. There is also a first ever on Norwegian Cruise Line, an Ice Bar. Everything is made of ice including sculptures and chairs. Worried about getting too cold? Have no fear as warm fur coats are provided before entering the bar. Another popular nighttime hang out is Club Bliss which features more of an adult oriented theme and a sensual atmosphere. I like how upon entering Club Bliss there is mist coming from the ceiling with projection imaging. There are DJ’s, dance cages and floors, a bowling alley, an erotic seating area including a bed; oh my!

Club Bliss on the NCL Epic

Don’t worry about going hungry on the Epic! There are over 20 dining options featuring a culinary experience from around the world. There is also a more casual dining area, The Garden Café, which is more popular at breakfast and lunch featuring a huge buffet with sandwiches, pizza, burgers, hot dogs, Asian foods, Indian foods, soup, salad, and so much more! If you want to experience a more cultural culinary experience I recommend making reservations before sailing on your cruise. The more popular restaurants, to name a few, Cagneys Steakhouse, Le Bistro, Moderno Churrascaria, and La Cucina, tend to book up very quickly and it’s nearly impossible to get in without a reservation. Some of the less crowded restaurants in the evening are the Manhattan Room and Taste, which have a traditional dining room feel on a cruise ship.

Joe and I have attended this cruise on behalf of Blue Man Group and this was our main focus so I will give a brief summary and some advice based on my experience. First off, good news for Blue Man fans; the shows are free! Second, I recommend making reservations for the Blue Man shows. Yes, you need reservations just like you need to buy tickets at one of the main venues. I did notice that the second show was completely booked for the last evening on our cruise. There are no assigned seats and its first come first serve. The front row does tend to be popular and if you want a front/center seat I recommend arriving at least one hour prior to your show. I was highly impressed as I walked into the 681 seat theatre as it looks very similar to the land venues, but still has a cruise ship feel to it. Joe and I got to explore the backstage area while onboard. It was a little cramped but all in all, it felt like a normal Blue Man area with all the paint, props, PVC’s, and drums. Joe and I got to see two out of the four shows on our cruise. The show is eighty minutes long featuring the most popular acts shown on land venues with a couple of new surprises. They even featured their popular feast girl skit and fan favorites such as Drumbone, PCV IV, Time to Start, and the wildly sensational paper finale at the end. On a typical cruise, Blue Man Group will perform eight shows during a seven night cruise.

Me and Joe with the blue men actors at the NCL Press Conference July 9th, 2010

During our first adventure with the Blue Man Insiders, we got a little down time with the guys. We had a blast being able to do an elevator interview, (which you have to see to believe) joined the guys for a couple of fun activities on the ship, and attend a press conference. My main question for the guys was; what are the challenges of performing on a boat verses a land venue? The guys answer was simply that main challenge of doing this show on a boat is the movement of the ship during the middle of the show. This was the answer I was looking for and I knew this could affect the show in some way. They said that sometimes the movement of the boat can cause things like the TV head skit to become a bit unstable and can offer challenges for the chair walking skit.

All in all, I was very much impressed with our cruise. I’ve never had the chance to sail with NCL and will definitely be cruising with them in the future. Everything from the dining choices, to the entertainment, to the nightlife, the ship lived up to it’s name and has proven itself truly innovative. My advice to you is to make sure you are ready for fun in the sun, have your reservations made, and come with an open mind and you’ll be sure to have an epic time on the new Norwegian Epic!

Alex Irick was hosted by Norwegian Cruise Lines on board Norwegian Epic for a short two-night preview cruise. Follow @TheBlueGirlAlex on Twitter, and for live reports, photos and videos and check here on Blue Man Group Insiders official Facebook for more details and answers to your questions for all things blue.