Hello, and welcome to Karen's Medical cor.
I'm Karen O'Day. I'm a family
nurse practitioner and a
certified nurse midwife,
owner and practitioner at
Evercare Family Practice.
Today we're doing a
podcast called, it Took,
but a kiss.
And this podcast is one that's very close
to my heart because it really helped
put into perspective things that
were important in my life. You know,
over the past several years with
Covid, everybody's life has changed.
Not only individuals who had themselves
or family members or friends that were
devastated by this absolutely horrible
virus, but medical professionals as well.
I don't think anybody can say
that they weren't somehow impacted
by the Covid 19 virus, and
were still impacted today.
But I think 2020 and 2021
were really hard years for
everybody. There was a lot of
suffering, a lot of people passed,
a lot of people lost loved ones,
and it really plummeted a lot of
people into a really dark place.
It affected not only their work,
but I was seeing patients
on a daily basis that we're
really suffering from anxiety, depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder.
And that really over time takes a toll
on the healthcare provider. It's hard.
It's hard to see your patients suffer.
It's heartbreaking. It's hard to see
patients pass. It is devastating.
And when this whole
pandemic first started,
we never closed our business.
My husband's business was open,
and I was open for business because
we're healthcare and we have a
responsibility to our patients to
provide healthcare no matter what,
no matter if there's a pandemic, no
matter if it's cold and flu season,
no matter what's going on, we're there.
And we were there every single day.
I took call 24 7 as needed for
patients through the entire pandemic.
And I realized shortly into the
pandemic when patients were suffering,
most of the patients that I was seeing
were telehealth because we were shut down
all the, as far as inpatient
visits, unless it was an urgent,
uh, or emergent situation.
And then we were allowed to have patients
come into the clinic. We were all, uh,
geared up testing for
Covid, uh, ourselves,
making sure that, you know,
we had everything to regulation for
the state and for the feds so that
we kept ourselves and our patients safe.
And it was just a really hard time.
And probably three months into the
shutdown, I told my husband, I said,
I don't know if I can keep this up.
This is affecting my mental health. I,
these patients are suffering and
I can't fix what's happening.
I can only be there. And he
told me at that time, he said,
you have to find a way to somehow
detach your emotions from what
you're having to deal with,
or you are gonna go crazy. And he
was right. Did I find that way?
Not really, not too much, because
that's not my personality.
My personality is such that I really
empathize with patients
and how they're feeling.
Although I was able to, to a degree,
put myself in a bubble and change
my behavior during that time.
But that also took a toll on
me because that's not who I am.
And so I found myself, you
know, with all of us globally,
shut down, socially isolated, not
able to do things that we enjoyed,
and having that anxiety on what's gonna
happen next? What happens tomorrow?
What happens in the next
hour? What happens next week?
Who knows? We don't know.
And over a two year period of time,
increasing numbers of
patients to a point of 2000
patients in our office.
And one practitioner was just building
up to where I really felt like I was
turning into a robot. I was going
to work, and then I was coming home,
going to bed, getting up a repeat.
That's what I did the last
four months of this last year,
seven days a week.
So when they opened up our state and
when the nation started to open back up
and the world started to open it back up,
we started little by little doing
things to get out into society.
So we weren't so socially
isolated, but it was weird.
It was weird to be shut down and drive
to work for a year and a half and have
nobody on the roads.
And then you're in a situation where
you're starting to re submerge yourself
into society and do things.
And so one of the things that
we did last year in 2021 is
what we love to do every year,
which is to go to the
Roswell Alien Festival over
the July 4th weekend.
And my son and his girlfriend flew out
from Seattle because she had never been
there, and my son hadn't been in a
few years, and they all wanted to go.
So we're sitting at a restaurant, and
this is towards the end of the festival.
And my son says, you wanna
go on a kiss cruise mom?
And I said, what? I said,
uh, are you talking to me?
And he said, yeah, do you wanna
go on a kiss cruise? And I said,
what is a KISS cruise? And he said,
it's a cruise that's put on by kiss,
and I want you to go with me. And I
looked at his girlfriend and I said, well,
what about Laren? Is she
gonna go? And she said,
Nope, <laugh>. And I said,
why do you want your mom to go on
a kiss cruise with you? I said,
what about your friends? Don't you wanna
take your friends? And he said, mom,
he said, you took me to my first
KISS concert in Vegas. And he said,
this is probably gonna be their
last cruise where they're in makeup,
and I wanna take you to see them
on their last cruise in their
full attire. And so I thought about it,
and I haven't been on a
vacation with my son since
2007. I love the band kiss.
And he said there were gonna be a lot of
other bands there. And so I said, okay,
sign me up. I'm gonna go.
And, uh, shortly after that,
um, I had to have some
vaccines. Not for this cruise,
but for another trip that was planned.
And I had a severe reaction to the
rabies vaccine, went into liver failure,
kidney failure, uh,
developed basically d
i c where I was very,
very sick for an extended period
of time. And, uh, but again,
didn't stop working. I was at work
every single day. And, uh, so I,
I started to get concerned about my
health. You know, I mean, what's going on?
Why is this happening?
And I realized, you know,
your mental health directly affects
your physical health. I mean,
I had never had a reaction to a vaccine
like that in my life. And I thought,
well, you know, I'll go on this vacation,
this weeklong vacation on a kiss cruise,
leaving out of la going to Cabo San Lucas
back through Ensenada and back home.
And, you know, it'll be fun. It'll
be, it'll be good with my son.
We'll have some quality time
together. And so the time came, uh,
I think it was,
I'm gonna have to look down because I
wanna make sure I have the date right.
But it started on October
24th, which is when we set,
set, set sale. And, um,
we show up, we go through, you know,
the whole boarding on a cruise. And
I've been boarded on a cruise before,
but it was a little bit
different on this cruise.
We were waiting in the
holding area to get on,
and all these people are all
there in their kiss attire.
One guy I saw was amazing.
He had tattoos of KISS
all over, I mean sleeves.
He had the kiss jacket on.
It was something I only
remember from when I was a kid.
And they had the whole kind of
holding area with the kiss crews,
you know, waiting to, uh, board.
And everybody was there just having
a good time. Everybody was relaxed.
Nobody was rushed, nobody looked stressed.
It was just a bunch of old guys and
gals like me and a few young ones
like my son and a few kids just
waiting to have a good time.
And so we boarded the cruise and you know,
I've been on cruises before and I
thought, yeah, you know, this'll be great.
It'll be fun. And oh my gosh,
when Kiss Now they were
not in their full attire.
They did not have their makeup
on, but they did the Sailaway, uh,
concert.
And it was completely like
I was transformed back in
time, back to the 1970s when I was
a kid, when I first heard kiss.
And just thinking about it
is making me shake right now.
It was something I can't even describe,
but it was like that social isolation,
that depression, that anxiety,
that post-traumatic stress that I
was feeling with all of my patients
was gone. It was gone.
And I could not believe it.
And so we listened for
over an hour to kiss,
just playing their songs, just having a
good time, just talking to the audience.
And, you know,
I was nervous prior to getting on
the ship because I don't smoke,
I don't drink, I don't party.
I'm your typical total
grade, a number one nerd.
If there's ever a nerd, it's me.
And I loved Kiss when I was a kid,
but I wasn't cool like my friends,
you know, we,
I I wasn't really allowed to listen to
Kiss music because my parents listened to
old country, which is fine. I like all
genres of music. I think it's all good.
I think you can find quality
in any form of music.
So when I would listen to Kiss, you
know, when I was listening on that boat,
I was transformed kind of back in time.
I was just transported back in
time to my best friend's house
and sitting on the floor with her
green shag carpet while her mom
was at work,
and her older sister and
two older sisters and
our two friends across the street just
listening to Kiss music. And of course,
they would be dancing to Kiss
music, and I was too shy.
I would just be sitting there
wishing I was cool like them.
And so my son and I were up on
the deck, not down on the floor,
kind of center stage outside where
usually they have the, the big pool.
And what was so amazing is there were
people in the hot tub listening to Kiss.
There were people on the deck,
there were people down center stage,
and everybody was just having a
good time. And it just, it was like,
it was magical. And after Kiss
played and we sailed away,
the bands were gonna be
playing this whole time.
So this was just like a party rock
and roll cruise. It was just amazing.
Something I'd never experienced when
I'd been on cruises before I went to the
art shows. And, you know, I went to
the, you know, the, the different,
uh, shows that they had with
the showgirls and everything,
but I had never done anything like this.
And so we go to our room and I find this
waiting for us. It was so amazing.
So we got all this KISS memorabilia.
They gave us this snow globe. Actually,
I have two because they
tried to confiscate my sons
coming back through, uh,
customs and at the airport,
which was not gonna happen.
This is like super special.
We got our dog tags into the Kiss Navy,
which was absolutely
amazing. Got some key chains,
which was also fantastic. But
that wasn't the best part.
The best part was actually listening
to these performers talk. I
mean, the songs were great.
The music was fantastic. I
felt like I was a kid again.
But listening to how their
lives had progressed,
history as they called it,
was absolutely phenomenal.
They p played Kiss History on
the TV in our room and our,
on our crews 24 7 from their
movies to their concerts,
to their backstage, you know,
groupy Girls, which, you know,
obviously I would, was never anything
pretty enough to be like that,
but I didn't care. I just liked the
music. And they had tons of bands. Now,
this is where I have
to have some of my, uh,
some of my stuff because actually we,
we set Sail on Monday, October 24th,
and I'm gonna bend down,
so you're gonna miss me for a minute now
I'm back up. But we left on the 24th.
And so I was so excited to see Kiss.
It was just absolutely amazing.
And then after they finished
playing, oh my gosh,
it was LA Guns and that was phenomenal.
So nobody knows this until I
got back on from the cruise,
and my husband is sitting
across from me right now,
but the only person who's ever been
a musician that I ever had a crush on
was Tracy Guns. I never saw
him in concert until now,
until this cruise. And
he was playing on stage.
And I, I looked over at my son, I was
like, oh my God, that's my total crush,
Tracy Guns. I can't believe
it. He's here. And so,
obviously I'm not the groupie
type, I'm the total nerd type.
So I just watching and clapping and
screaming and having a good time.
And we saw so many bands. We saw Baron,
we saw Docan and Lynch reunion.
We Lynch Mob was fantastic.
We saw the fifth, we saw the
aviators, heart to Heart, SI City,
the Alive Green Jello, which
is now now called Green Jelly,
because I guess the Jello company
didn't like them using the Jello name.
We <laugh>. And we saw them
multiple times, which was amazing.
And we could sit anywhere we
wanted. And then of course,
we saw Kiss in Concert
dressed up full attire.
We were on the floor.
10, 15 feet away from watching them do
their show. It was absolutely amazing.
But again, the most amazing
part was not the concert,
it was actually getting to know these
people on a more personal
level, and the fact that they,
they have had struggles
and that they are human,
and that they have survived,
and they've actually
conquered and moved into
a new dimension of their lives.
So that was amazing. I mean,
to have tea time with Tommy Thayer
and watch him teach somebody how to,
how to, you know, put
golf balls was incredible.
Watching Paul Stanley Cook Pasta for
individuals on stage was fantastic.
And trying, Paul Stanley's
Pizza was amazing.
Eric Singer did face painting,
which was phenomenal.
We watched a,
a version of like the Newlywed Game
with Gene Simmons in his wonderful wife
with other couples on stage. I mean,
stuff that you would never see. And,
and it was just so down to
earth and so heartwarming.
And the whole time I was on the cruise,
I just had this surrealistic
experience that this is how life
should be. I mean,
obviously not on a
cruise with Kiss and all
these bands, 365 days a year,
but I mean, how I should feel.
I sh the whole time I was on that
cruise when it first started,
I started having these
little blips of serenity.
And as the cruise went on,
it got bigger and bigger.
And I was experiencing,
it's hard to describe,
but people who've had that feeling when
they're stressed and all of a sudden
there's that moment and
everything's just serene.
It's fantastically phenomenal.
Y I can't even describe it.
I was getting up at six o'clock in the
morning working out with some of these
young guys that are now playing for
these older bands and some of the
old guys that are in the
older bands. I'd get up early,
I'd be one of the first
people at the buffet,
and I figured out that the lead singer
of Green Jelly probably doesn't need much
sleep because he would be down there too,
as well as the lead singer from La Guns.
And there was no mobs,
there were no groupies bothering
this, these performers.
It was just like everybody
could have a good time.
There were no politics
involved, no stress.
It was just people with no agenda except
to have fun and listen to music.
And man, is that what I ever needed?
And while I was on that
cruise, I started thinking,
I have to have more serenity
because I need happiness.
I'm getting sick.
I'm so stressed with everything that's
been going on in the world that I,
this can't keep going on. Because
while I was on that, that cruise,
I did not have any feeling
of illness whatsoever.
I felt fantastic. We went to Cabo,
my son and I got to go
snorkeling together.
We got to go kayaking and paddle boarding.
We went to Ensenada and we went
on a hike, which was phenomenal.
We wandered off into the city and found
this local restaurant with Ama amazing
ceviche. It was just fantastic.
And then we listened
to Kiss with Giving the
history, and all the band
members were up there,
and it was just amazing
to hear their story.
And then we listened to, um,
several of the other bands just talk
about, you know, their experiences.
We watched a guitar riff with Tommy
Thayer, and we watched, uh, uh,
a drum riff with Eric Singer
where they had contests, you know,
for who were the best drummers and the
best guitarists. And I'll tell you,
listening to those guitar players and
those drummers, they were really good.
But when you, there's a difference
between that and the professionals.
And you could see in all these
professional musicians how hard
they worked for what they had.
And it just changed and put a
whole new spin on it for me.
And then when I went to the talk that Doc
McGee did,
it was a total game changer for
me when he was talking about
quality time remaining and
how he had brought Kiss
back and how he's brought these other
bands into light and everything that he's
done.
And that nothing really
matters if you're not true to
yourself and doing what's important to
you with your quality time remaining.
Because how long do we
have? Who knows? You know,
could have, I could have 30 years, I
could have 40 years, I could have an hour.
I don't really know.
And in listening to him,
I had this whole change of heart in
what I wanted to do with the rest of
my life.
And that's why I decided to
make a change in the practice.
And I decided that for the
quality time remaining,
what it was important to me
was providing quality care to
patients. And so that's what we're doing.
But my whole point of the story is not
on me, but it's on the experience.
And I, I think everybody should go
on a KISS cruise. It's fantastic.
It's phenomenal. But that's
not probably for everybody.
But what is for everybody is
what's important to them and their
quality time remaining.
And I know there's so many people out
there that are stressed, that are anxious,
that are depressed, both
panic attacks, PTs, d,
social anxiety.
A agoraphobia, you know, fear
of going out into society.
And it was there, it was like that prior
to Covid, but it's been even worse now.
And the point of this podcast is to
encourage people to get out there.
I'm not saying you have to be on a cruise
with a couple of thousand people if
you're not comfortable with that.
But maybe go out into the mountains and
hike whatever it is that you love to
do. If you love to ski, if
you love to be on the lake,
if you love to ride your
bike or whatever it is,
don't waste your time
worrying about things you can't change.
Spend your time living
your life. We got one,
we all have one life and
that's it. And once it's gone,
we don't know what happens.
But we just have this,
we have the here and
now we have the present.
And so I don't wanna put
anybody's health at risk.
I don't want people to do anything
they're uncomfortable with.
But I wanna encourage people because
Doc McGee and that kiss cruise,
it was like an epiphany for me on
something that had been lacking in my life
for a very long time. But then
over the last two to three years,
had really, I had really taken a
plummet, just kind of a nose dive into,
I'm gonna work the rest of
my life and just be a robot.
And then I went on that cruise
and I listened to Gene Simmons,
to Tommy Thayer, to Paul
Stanley, to Eric Singer,
to the lead singer of Green
Jelly, who I absolutely adore
to listening to
Tracy Guns talk about his music.
I mean, it was fantastic.
And we just had fun,
you know, and that's what
life is about, having fun,
whatever you like to do.
I'm probably the least likely person that
anybody would think would be on a KISS
cruise. But people don't know
what I was like when I was a kid.
I was just like this, except I listened
to Kiss, I listened to bad company,
I listened to heart,
I listened to A C D C,
I listened to Blue Oyster
Cult as well as Hank Juniors,
Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, June Carter,
my mom's favorite, Patsy
Klein, uh, you know,
Aaron Nevilles, you name it.
I listened to it because my
aunts liked something different.
My parents liked something
different. And then of course,
my friends and I were just
cooling. We liked rock and roll.
But the point is,
do what you love because you
only have this life to do it in.
And I just felt like I really
wanted to bring that across.
I couldn't sleep last night
because I was thinking about,
my son sent me a, uh,
a text and it had Paul Stanley flying
through the air coming from the back
of the audience down to the
stage. And he said, mom,
thanks so much for going on that KISS
cruise. It was the best experience ever.
And I said, yeah, it was. I said that,
that is one of the best,
if not the best experiences
I've had in my life.
And it was exciting to have that
experience with my son because we hung out
24 7 together. I mean, we, we
shared a room. We had these awesome,
cool twin beds. We watched
KISS movies all night long.
We got up at the crack of dawn
and we were all day go, go, go.
And it was just the best.
I had to go back to work to
recover from the exhaustion.
But it was also that relaxation as well.
The mental relaxation of just
listening to other people,
having and watching people,
having fun and doing that myself.
And Kiss Cruise is gonna be two, 2024.
And I'm gonna be there
because it was an experience
like no other. And I liked being
transported back in time to my childhood.
So I just wanna put a shout out
to every single band that was on
that cruise. And a thank you so
much to kiss for putting that on.
You totally saved me kiss
and I appreciate that.
And I wanna give a shout out to Kathy V,
who's always been supportive
of me since I met you in 2009.
And I just appreciate you
so much and thank you for
always being there.
And thank you for all of my friends
and all of my family and all of the
listeners. I appreciate
you taking time to listen.
And I wish you health and
happiness and pursuing
what makes you happy and realizing
you can do anything you want.
You just have to work for it. And
you just have to, to do it. Don't,
don't let life pass you by. Have fun.
And that, that's my hope.
And I thank you and I appreciate
you and I'm thankful for everyone
who's listening. And, um,
thank you Tracy Guns for being
my, uh, my 30 year crush.