Megan Narveson

REHAB110W

October 13, 2022

Interview With Kim Zismer

Life can change in an instant, and often without warning. Thousands of people endure

hardships every day, but for some reason it never seems real. Ask anyone who has undergone a

serious life-altering event and they will say, “I just never thought it would happen to me.” This

phrase is all too familiar for Kim Zismer, a sixty-five year old wife and mother of two boys. Kim

is an active member of the church I attend back home, and a good friend of my mom’s. Although

I have seen her at church before, I never knew her story until today.

To begin the interview, I asked Kim to share her story and anything she was comfortable

including about her disability. Kim began her story by saying that in 2007, when she was just

fifty-one years old, she endured a life-altering event that she never saw coming. She had always

been a healthy individual, she went for daily walks and enjoyed being active, doing any outdoor

activity. She had never had any real concern about having a medical emergency because not only

was she in such good health, but she was also a former nurse. Her story began on a fall morning

that started out like any other. She went for a five mile walk along a trail nearby her house which

was one of her favorite routes. When she got back to her house she made breakfast and went

about her usual day which included doing tasks around her house, and deciding what she would

make for dinner for her family. In the afternoon, she decided to sit on the couch and watch T.V.

before her kids and husband got home for the evening. She ended up falling asleep for two hours,

and when she woke up she couldn’t move. Being a former nurse, she said she knew right away

that she had had a stroke and needed to go to the hospital. “I experienced all the tell-tale signs of
a stroke. I had facial droop, weakness, and inability to move one side of my body. I was also

fairly disoriented.” Kim told me during the interview.

The rest of that evening was a blur as she was whisked to the emergency room via

ambulance. After performing a variety of medical examinations, the doctors determined that Kim

had had a hemorrhagic stroke. She was in the Intensive Care Unit for a week while the doctors

worked to find the cause of her medical emergency. During this time, one of the associate pastors

from St. Michael’s paid her a visit to pray over her and show his support. Kim was curious as to

why the lead pastor had not come to see her yet. When she asked this question, the associate

pastor essentially told her that Pastor Dodge only visits people who are dying. A few days later,

Kim took a turn for the worse. She said this was the only time in her life when she seriously

thought she was going to die. This time when a member of the church came to visit her in the

hospital, it was Pastor Dodge. The sight of him nearly brought tears to her eyes because she

remembered what the other leader had said the visit before. Despite this discouraging visit, Kim

remained hopeful. Over five weeks into her hospital stay the doctors discovered the cause of her

stroke. She had bacterial endocarditis which occurs when bacteria enters the blood and makes its

way into the heart. This caused a clot which eventually went to her brain causing the stroke.

Treatment for this condition required a procedure to remove and clean out the affected tissue,

which meant more hospital time.

Because of the extensiveness of her stroke, Kim was paralyzed on the entire left side of

her body. Through countless occupational and physical therapy sessions, she regained function

of her hip and leg as well as her arm and hand. Although she was in a wheelchair for a while

following the stroke, she gradually progressed from a half-walker to a four-pronged cane, and

now uses a traditional cane. However, physical impairments were not the only symptoms that
impacted Kim following the stroke. She also experienced vision loss and noticed some cognitive

deficits. For example, it took her longer to respond to others in conversations, and to come up

with the right words to express her emotions. As Kim described these delays, she said that it was

nothing that an another person would really notice anymore but she still feels like her ability to

respond during conversations is not as fast as it was prior to the stroke. She also stated that the

brain damage she experienced from the stroke has continued to impact her balance, especially

when she is fatigued. When I asked if there were any other physical changes that she still

experiences, she shared that her left foot remains completely numb and mostly paralyzed.

On top of these notable differences, Kim was also affected by her own emotional

response to the situation. “The hardest part was being so young and healthy. I was going to

therapy with eighty year olds and I just remember thinking that I don’t belong here.” Kim

expressed when I asked her what the hardest part of the recovery process was for her. An

unexpected change like this is bound to stir up some frightening emotions. Kim said she went

through about two and a half years of needing to take medication for her depression. She said she

often questioned how and why this would happen to her when she was a dedicated Christian and

in good physical shape. These thoughts continued until a family friend, who was going through a

similar experience, committed suicide. Kim said that this event really sparked her back into her

faith. She prayed that God would use this experience to grow and strengthen her faith, which she

believes he continues to do to this day.

It was at this time that I inquired about how God has used this experience for good in her

life, to which she responded that she had so many things to be thankful for. She was thankful for

all of the encouraging therapists that pushed her to regain some of the physical and mental

function that she had lost. She was thankful that this event brought her family closer together.
Her oldest son even offered to be her caretaker after the hospital, which was oddly a great

bonding experience for the two of them. Another thing she had to be thankful for was her

involvement in the Inspire Program in 2010. Inspire is an organization that provides support

groups and classes for those who have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Kim admitted that

she learned a lot from these groups, like how to ask for help when you need it and to embrace

taking naps.

Through the years following her stroke, Kim has found many new hobbies to keep her

active like playing on an adaptive golf league and participating in yoga classes. She also enjoys

photography, especially nature scenes, as well as expressing her creativity by making cards.

Reading is another hobby that Kim loves to do. When I asked what genre of books, she enjoys

reading she said, “Ironically, or maybe not, I am really fascinated by the human brain, so I like

reading books about that for sure. I also read a lot of faith-based books.” After this I dug into the

deeper questions. I asked if she would change her circumstances if she had the power to, and I

was shocked by her response. She said that looking back she would not change a thing because

of how it has strengthened her relationships and led her to meet people that she otherwise would

not know. Kim believes that her stroke has given her a lot of perspective and the ability to have

compassion for others who are going through tough life events. The last question that was eating

away at me was “what is your biggest pet peeve as a person with a disability?” To which Kim

replied, “The most annoying thing for me is when people don’t ask questions. When they just

assume things about me without knowing my story.”

Detecting

My nerves grew with each step that I took up to the front door of Kim Zismer’s house. I

had seen her before in passing at church, but I had never really talked to her, especially not about

something so personal. I was worried about coming across as rude or doing something that seems

insensitive. My hand shook as reached to knock on her door. When the door swung open, all the

fear washed away. Before me stood a petite woman with a big smile on her face. I immediately

felt relieved, thinking that maybe this would not be as hard as I thought it would be. I caught

myself looking her up and down because I knew that at church, she walked with a cane, but I

didn’t see one here. I felt self-conscious, as I thought about how rude it must seem for me to be

standing there staring at her. One thing that I did notice was her ankle, it appeared to be wrapped

in some sort of stabilization brace. As I watched her walk in front of me through the house to the

back porch I felt a flood of emotions, but particularly sadness and curiosity. I noticed her limp

and it made me sad because I assumed that it was painful. Questions flooded my mind. Why

does she have a limp? Was this an avoidable accident or a chronic medical condition? Does she

only use a cane when she is out of the house?

Deciding

After looking her up and down, I chose to make eye contact in order to avoid any

awkward tension that my unavoidable staring may have caused. I smiled to try and show I was

comfortable and tried to look friendly, even if I was still a little nervous. Throughout the

interview I was very intentional about the language that I used. I made an effort to use person-

first language and to my knowledge I was successful. I tried to avoid words like “handicap” and

“disabled” because of their ability to come off as offensive. I remembered where the word
“handicap” came from and decided it would be my goal to never use this word to describe a

person with a disability again. After hearing Kim’s story, I concluded that I could categorize her

disability as a stroke. When she described what caused her stroke and the symptoms that she

experiences I was able to understand that a clot traveled to her brain and caused cognitive and

physical impairments which account for the “difference.”

Doing

The best way for me to have responded would have been by making eye contact first to

help show my comfortability with her. It would have been most appropriate for me to have

started the interview with more casual conversation instead of jumping right into questions about

her disability. This would have given me more of an understanding of who she is as a person

without any unintentional judgements. Then as the interview progressed, and we became more

familiar with one another, I could ask questions about some of the physical differences that I

noticed. I also noticed myself fidgeting with my hands and adjusting my legs quite a bit while

listening to her speak. I am not sure if this was because of nerves or if I was subconsciously

uncomfortable with what she was telling me. It would have been more appropriate for me to fold

my hands and sit up straight that leaning back in my chair, although it displayed a more relaxed

demeanor.

Debriefing

I believe that Kim was very willing to answer any question that I came up with, which

made it really easy to ask her anything, knowing that it would not offend her. I did a good job of

taking quick notes as to not disrupt the flow of conversation. I think that I could have showed up
better prepared for the interview and explained it in a manner that was more structured. Through

this experience, as well as listening to guest presenters in class, I have learned that most people

with a disability are open to being asked questions and would rather have you ask than have you

make assumptions about them. I also learned that I am more timid when it comes to speaking my

mind and asking questions out of fear that it will be perceived the wrong way. Interviewing Kim

helped me to realize how eye-opening listening to other people’s stories can be. This experience

helped me to value what I have, knowing that it could all change in an instant. Next time I

interact with a person who has a disability I will know to look them in the eye first and get to

know them as a person before inquiring about their difference.