Cunningham-Ramos AML & Stroke after TBI Journey

Kim has not lost his witty sense of humor

It has been over 2 months since I last made a blog entry.  By now you’ve probably assumed that things are stable with Kim and that I keep on inching toward a ‘new life’ without him. That has been the case to an extent except that there have been hiccups along the way and I am still seeking meaning to a life without Kim by my side. 

At the end of August I returned to the U.S. to continue the process of decluttering and disposing of non-needed items from our home, a task I had to give up after 2 weeks of insane hours and unduly stress. I tried to take a short vacation to Bar Harbor ME in early October with friends which turned out to be a bit of an ordeal! I ended up having to cut short the ‘vacation’ mainly because I got a call from Colombia letting me know that Kim was being taken to the hospital’s emergency: he was vomiting blood 😬

Even though Kim sounded okay over the phone when I spoke with him while they waited for the ambulance to arrive, I decided to rent a car at the nearest available car rental in Bangor and drive 670 miles back home overnight, clocking a total of 770 miles in 24 hrs with the extra drive to return the car rental at the airport! I wasn’t sure I still had the ‘truck-driver, long-haul driving skills’ Kim used to say I had.

After a lot of testing at the hospital, they found a stomach ulcer which they cauterized. They also gave him blood to restore his blood levels. This made him very energetic and alert. It may have been the healthy plateless and hemoglobin cells that were in the new blood.

Upon returning to Colombia I found Kim again very stable, eating great meals, but saying that he misses me greatly. He does think he’s still in the US; thinks I am just out running errands; is dead serious about one of the residents at the center being his brother Chris, often calling him to chat; and he now says that the center is his home which gives me peace of mind.