When my teammates quite literally surrounded me and took away my keys, I was somewhat forced to call my sister and ask her if there was any way she could come to the field, pick me up, and take me to the nearest hospital. My sister is incredible, and she did just that; we ended up going to Hagersville because it was the closest and least busy emergency department in the area we were in.
We got there around 8p.m., and my sister dropped me back off at my house at roughly 12:45 in the morning. The wait wasn’t wonderful but it could have been a lot worse, and the doctor who saw me was incredible. He examined me, did some cognitive tests and informed me I had a severe concussion, whiplash, and possibly something called second impact syndrome. He ordered a CT scan of my brain and referred me to a concussion specialist in Simcoe, Ontario, who I have been seeing twice weekly ever since.
I’ve already made improvements with my recovery, but at the very start, I was told I was unable to drive, work, or basically do anything that could elevate my heart rate and worsen the symptoms. Having to tremendously scale back in daily life has not been the easiest adjustment, and while proper and thorough concussion treatment is essential for a full recovery, the recovery itself is frustrating as hell. You think you’re back to normal, only to do something that brings all of the symptoms back in full force.
The specialist I am seeing will be the one who eventually clears me and gives me the go-ahead to go back to doing what I was doing before the concussion. I am indebted to him, and to my teammates who are to thank for forcing me to go get checked out.
Concussions are serious, as are their recovery windows. They’re not something to take lightly.
ontheedgeofeverything 