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.
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