Kim So Rocks

Having gotten the opportunity to actually meet Kim and her husband, Derlis, in-person, I am so impressed by how far she has come in her recovery in such a short amount of time.  Kim suffers from aphasia, but has found some really unique ways to work through it with the help of Derlis and YouTube ESL videos.  During our meeting in-person, she explained that she remembered that she was an aural learner before her stroke so she thought it would help to listen to English lessons on YouTube to fill in and help her remember the words she forgets due to her aphasia.  Kim is also super brave!  She pushes herself to talk through her aphasia and try her best to communicate on her own.  Also, her husbands support as a caregiver reminds me a lot of my girlfriend, Felice.  I admire Derlis’ patience, understanding and caring for Kim.  Now read Kim’s story below, written in her words with the help of Derlis.  Way to go Kim!  You So Rock!

I am Kim, and I am also a stroke survivor (ischemic left MCA). My stroke was in the early

Kim and Joe actually got to meet in-person in April since they both live in LA!

morning of December 12, 2018.  Before my stroke, I was enrolled at California State University of Los Angeles. My goal was to finish my degree in healthcare administration and management.

At the time of my stroke, I was too busy and stressed out.  Every other day I got aura migraines that would disrupt my vision and my balance.  I had noticed that I was winded by walking or going on the stairs. In my head, I thought that the reason was that I was too stressed and tired.

On the morning of my stroke, I was going to study for my final exams.  I woke up to get some coffee and I broke the coffee pot. It fell through my hand and I looked down to my right hand and I noticed that my fist was clutched.  I did not understand what was happening to my hand and I could not walk so I fell into a chair. My husband was asleep and I could not talk or ask for help. Suddenly, my husband woke up because he heard me drop the coffee pot and during that instance, he saved my life.  He knew right away that something was wrong. My face was droopy and I was unresponsive. Soon, after noticing that, my husband called 911 right away.

At the emergency room, the neurologist’s diagnosis was that I was having a major stroke.  My left brain was not working because there were two blood clots in my brain. The neurologist qualified me for a trial medication called Escape-NA-1.  (It was a randomized, double-blinded trial). The secondary objectives were to determine the efficacy of NA-1 in reducing functional dependence, improving neurological outcome, improving activities of daily living and reducing mortality rate.  When I became conscious I was asked if I would like to stay on the trial so I nodded yes. In the summer of 2019, I will know whether or not I got the real drug or the placebo. For my brain surgery, the doctor used a stent retriever to pull out the blood clot in my brain causing a small hemorrhage.  That alleviated the stroke from busting the blood vessel however, it left me with aphasia – a communication disorder.

Also, while I was in the emergency room, the doctors found out that I had a hole in my heart called a patent foramen ovale (PFO) – a birth defect that causes a hole in the wall between the heart’s upper chambers.  The doctors were very concerned that if I did not fix the hole in my heart I would continue to have more strokes as I was diagnosed with Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) – local coagulation or clotting of the blood in a part of the circulatory system.  I had blood clots all over my body. I had blood clots in my lungs and DVT in my legs. The doctors told me that the blood clots are hereditary. The doctors had placed a filter in my aorta vena cava to hold the blood clots so I wouldn’t have another stroke.

Throughout my time in the hospital, I had a hard time listening and understanding what was going on.  Even after my brain surgery I still could not speak, read or write. Later on, the doctor told me that the brain injury caused me to have severe aphasia.  I was confused and I thought that the doctors had told me that I had amnesia. I also thought that everything would come back to normal. The speech therapy helped me to understand what aphasia was and that it would be very hard for me to listen, read, write and speak.  I had speech therapy while I was at the hospital.

I am grateful that the doctors and hospital helped me even though I didn’t have insurance at the time.  The hospital allowed me to stay there for 3 weeks and then they helped me to find a clinic. The clinic helped me with the surgery in my heart and successfully closed my PFO. The doctors and my speech therapy program were so kind to sponsor me so that I could also have free speech therapy for one more month.

So now I am recovering and I am waiting for a clinic that will be placing me on speech and physical therapy.  I hope that physical therapy will help me regain my right hand because my right hand is always hurting and it feels numb.

All in all, I am so grateful that so many people helped me survive.  My husband has been so lovely and caring for me by assisting me and taking me to all my hospital appointments.  Now my husband is the chef at our house. He also helped me write my story.

I am so happy that I survived.  I feel so much better and so much positivity is in my life now.

To continue to follow Kim’s journey follow her at @kim.in.la on Instagram.  Connect with more stroke and brain injury survivors on the YouSoRock Facebook Support Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/yousorock.