Between my sophomore and junior year in highschool I received two concussions while cheering on my school's varsity squad. Three months after my last concussion I was experiencing excruciating headaches, light sensitivity, memory issues, persistent fatigue, and struggles with my school work. Everyday tasks like walking up the stairs, waking up on time, and remembering the route to school became substantial hurdles. Anxious, my mother decided to take me to see a neurologist. I went through multiple MRI’s, CT scans, and X-Rays to determine the condition of my neck and brain tissues, all of which returned normal. Bewildered, my neurologist referred me to a neuropsychologist to have a battery of neuropsych testing done. This test lasted eight hours
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Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again tomorrow”. This quote immediately latched onto me. It encouraged me to dive head first, no pun intended, into my recovery. With a great support system behind me I attended at least three doctors appointments each week, took my medication on time, completed my at home therapy work, and began an exercise routine. I realized that not being able to overcome this obstacle immediately did not mean that I was not strong. However, part of me was still bitter about the time I had wasted. A good chunk of time that I could have spent recovering was instead spent struggling to find a diagnosis. I spent days wondering why the scans said I was healthy but my body felt like it was falling apart. Although I was incredibly grateful that I had finally received my diagnosis and began recovery my thoughts continued to drift to those who were suffering as I had. I became inspired to use my experience to guide others. I created a blog, “Meeting Me Again”, to speak to those who have gone through similar experiences and give them encouragement. In the future I would like to attend conferences with my doctors and tell athletes about head injury prevention, recovery, and the truth about MRI’s and CT
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again tomorrow”. This quote immediately latched onto me. It encouraged me to dive head first, no pun intended, into my recovery. With a great support system behind me I attended at least three doctors appointments each week, took my medication on time, completed my at home therapy work, and began an exercise routine. I realized that not being able to overcome this obstacle immediately did not mean that I was not strong. However, part of me was still bitter about the time I had wasted. A good chunk of time that I could have spent recovering was instead spent struggling to find a diagnosis. I spent days wondering why the scans said I was healthy but my body felt like it was falling apart. Although I was incredibly grateful that I had finally received my diagnosis and began recovery my thoughts continued to drift to those who were suffering as I had. I became inspired to use my experience to guide others. I created a blog, “Meeting Me Again”, to speak to those who have gone through similar experiences and give them encouragement. In the future I would like to attend conferences with my doctors and tell athletes about head injury prevention, recovery, and the truth about MRI’s and CT