It is a bittersweet realization to acknowledge that my rugby season for this year has concluded. We played our final game on August 10th in Stoney Creek, and while I knew beforehand that this would be our final match, I wasn’t entirely prepared for how it would end for me personally.
To provide you with a bit of important context, our game before our final one took place two weeks prior, meaning we had a two-week break in between games. This worked in our favour because a lot of my teammates were on the mend with various injuries, and I ended up getting a mild concussion in this first game. I saw our athletic trainer immediately after it happened, and after she told me I had a concussion, she advised me of what to do in order to be able to play safely by our next game, two weeks later.
I will be honest and admit I did not entirely heed our trainer’s advice because I’m a stubborn bitch, and when we played our final game on the 10th, I already wasn’t feeling too hot. I had no idea the symptoms I was experiencing before the match were still residual from my concussion, and proceeded to play anyway. In the last ten minutes of the game or so, I took another pretty hard smack to the head, and it was all downhill from there.
Before I had even walked off the field following the game, I felt like I had the flu. My head was literally pounding; I had a fever; my entire body was aching; I was extremely sensitive to light and sounds; I vomited a few times. I wasn’t sure if this was a Lyme flare-up or if I was getting sick, but a key detail in this equation is that I do not recall getting hit again whatsoever. One of my teammates actually informed me I had a conversation with her about hitting my head that I do not remember at all, and when I went home, I spent the evening in bed.
The next day I felt equally awful, but I figured I would let this suspected illness run its course. I vomited a few times on Sunday as well and couldn’t keep much of anything down. By Monday, I was feeling a little better, so I went to practice. As soon as we started running, I almost vomited again, and my teammates literally held an intervention and forced me to go to the hospital.
Check back tomorrow for part two.
ontheedgeofeverything 