Concussion

I have never really opened up to what happened last year when I had my concussions. After writing my last blog post, I thought I would share my story. Here it goes:

     September 22, 2011, a day that I will always remember…sort of. That was the day that I sustained my concussion. During my soccer game, I went up in the air for a fifty-fifty ball. As I went for the ball, a player from the other team undercut me. We both jumped, and as I snapped my head forward, the left side of my head made contact with the ball. However, the right side of my head made a violent impact with the opponents head. I was sick at the time; I had a headache and flu like symptoms. Therefore, I did not associate my raging headache with the collision. A couple days passed until I went to the trainer, and received a diagnosis of a concussion. I was told to sit out a couple weeks. A couple weeks passed and I wasn’t feeling better. However, playoffs were coming and we were seated to play our biggest rival. I was going to do anything I could to be on the field for that game. I reported to the trainers, told them I was fine, and I was slated to take the concussion test. I wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip by. I “passed” the test. I had gotten what I wanted, the opportunity to play in that playoff game. In that game, I proceeded to sustain two or possibly three more concussions. I compete by the saying, “over my dead body.” There was no way I was coming out of that game.

     Headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, confusion, sensitivity to light and sound, sleeping problems, concentration issues, and a mental fog set it. I was told to take it easy, to shut down. This was extremely frustrating to me. How can you tell a student that operates on such a high level to shut down? As the weeks progressed, I wasn’t getting any better. I finally decided to see multiple doctors. Every doctor told me the same thing; I would just require more time to recover. I was told that I was one of those outlying statistics that took longer to get over a concussion. I did not feel like a person at that moment, I felt like a statistic. Each concussion is different, and I was baffled at how all my doctors were telling me I just needed time. After two months I still made no progress. I started vestibular therapy. It gave me something to look forward to and work hard at. I remember being at therapy and people would stare at me. From the outside, I had no visible injuries. On the inside however, I was not me. That was frustrating. People doubted my concussion. I even felt that my teachers doubted me. I felt alone.

     When second semester hit in January, I knew I could not fall behind anymore in school. Therefore I returned to my classes. What faced me now was the daunting task of an entire semester of make-up work. I had to drop my first semester History class, and make it up during summer school. In my other classes, I was able to work together with my teachers to set up a makeup plan. In reality, I was taking two semesters of courses during one semester.  Officially, I did not complete junior year until summer school ended. When that day happened however, I was more than happy. I had survived junior year in one of the worst ways possible.

     While recovering, I began to question myself; would I ever be the same person I was before my concussion? The concussion changed me, but in a good way. My academic skills have certainly returned to me. It is my personality that has changed. This path towards recovery brought tremendous amounts of stress and anxiety on me. I learned how to deal with it. My recovery certainly gave me more confidence. If I was able to survive such an elongated ordeal, I was able to do anything. I had no control over how all of this happened, or how long it took. At the end of the day, the only thing that a person has control over is themselves. In my case, it was what I did with my recovery time and my attitude during recovery. I kept my head up high and I put in a tremendous amount of effort to come out of this situation better and healthier learner and person.   

Psych

“I'm not a big fan of psychoanalysis: I think if you have mental problems what you need are good pills. But I do think that if you have thinks that bother you, things that are unresolved, the more that you talk about them, write about them, the less serious they become.” –Stephen King

     Sigmund Freud instituted us with the idea of Psychoanalysis. It is grounded in multiple parts. Parts include: a person’s development are based on his or her childhood, actions are caused by the unconscious mind, the mind creates defense mechanisms to repress memories, and repressed memories can be brought back to the conscious through coaching. However, I would like to argue a point here that I do not necessarily believe, so please bare with me.

     I am not a believer in medicine. I hate medicine; I do not take it at all costs. I believe in natural recovery. The most recent time that I experienced the issue of medication was when I sustained me spell of concussions last year. After suffering through anxiety and depression issues after my concussions, I was told by doctors that I needed medication to help me. I am proud to say that aside from an occasional Advil, I took no medication to aid my recovery. If this were to happen again, I would not take medication. However, it is interesting to look at what would happen if I did take medication.

     Stephen King would be on the side of medication in my case. However, Freud would not be. Freud would argue that I should have sought counseling to talk about my issues to get through my anxiety and depression. Fortunately that is what I did, and it did help me significantly. But it is always interesting to wonder about the other side. If I did take medication, my recovery could have been expedited. But that was never an option for me. I am extremely happy where I ended up.

     As a student in high school, I am an outsider to what medication can really do to you. My dad likes to act as an expert in the field; he is far from it. He works with computers, not medication. He is the driving force against me taking meds. However, he is also an outsider to the fact. He has read many books on psychology. He has also read some books on Freud. He agrees with Freud’s psychoanalytical theory. He is the one that suggested I should seek counseling instead of medication. This brings up the point, should you listen to a large group of outsiders? I could have listened to my doctors, who I would consider the insiders on the topic. However, I instead listened to a group of outsiders, who knew little about concussions. In the end, I turned out all right.

     I would quickly like to also make the point that every person is an outsider when it comes to the topic of concussions. No one really knows a thing about concussions. Each one is different, and concussions are ever evolving. The field is expanding, but after suffering my own fair share of concussions, I would not even consider a neurologist an insider on concussions.

U.N.

"The whole basis of the United Nations is the right of all nations-great or small-to have weight, to have a vote, to be attended to, to be part of the twentieth century." -Adlai E. Stevenson

     This weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Model UN conference hosted by the University of Chicago. The event, held at the Palmer House of Chicago, brought together youth from around the world. In essence, the goal of the conference was to give the participants an experience to what actually working at the UN means. With over a thousand participants, delegates represented nations all over the world in dozens of committees. While this gathering was only a mock event, it certainly did shed light onto what an actual UN committee does. I stated to think about what powers the actual UN has, and what is the significance of the UN. My experience led to my findings.

     The quote by Adlai Stevenson does a great job in describing the goal of the UN. The purpose of the UN is to give every nation in the world an equal and fair opportunity in representing their own best interests. I came into the conference with this mindset. I was a delegate from the Czech Republic. Some of my colleagues however, were delegates from Eritrea. Unfortunately, everyone does not know where Eritrea is, let alone have heard of it. Eritrea is a perfect example of what a small country can do in the UN. Traditionally speaking, the large countries in the UN are the 5 permanent members of the Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. I experienced first hand the power of these nations this weekend.

     As a delegate from the Czech Republic, I was neither a large nation with eternal power, nor a small unheard of nation. However, the fact that I was not apart of the Big 5 led to significant challenges in getting my resolutions passed. There were 5 original resolutions that were brought forward to the table in our committee this weekend. 4 out of the 5 were written by members of the Big 5. The truth is, smaller nations were not able to seriously address their own concerns. Well, these countries were allowed to speak on the floor, but their comments were not necessarily taken into high accord. The 5 resolutions later turned into 2. One co-written mainly by France and the US, while the other was mainly written by Russia and China. This just shows how influential and powerful large countries are in the UN.

     So the question becomes, what does it mean to be a small nation in the UN? Actually, let's look at it even differently. What does it mean to be a nation other than the Big 5 in the UN? Theoretically, and according to Adlai Stevenson, each nation should be given an equal opportunity of representation. While that may be true, not all countries are listened to. All of these other countries I would like to consider as outsiders. Being an outsider in the UN essentially means that it is extremely difficult for you to pass your own legislature. I experienced this challenge first hand this weekend. As the delegate from the Czech Republic, no one seemed to listen to me. Ever. I understand the theory behind the UN. Unfortunately, I do not believe it is successful it its execution. The UN was formed to make everyone feel equal and represented. That is not the case when there are outsiders within such an entity.