My Experience with Concussions
My first concussion occurred in the spring of my freshman year, during my first season playing softball in high school. There were only a few more games left of the high school season, and I wanted to make them count. We had an away game one day and I remember it being super hot. I began the game with a headache from the long car ride over. We started in the field and I was at shortstop. We got the first two outs immediately. Somehow, a runner got to first base, and on the next pitch thrown, she attempted to steal (meaning she ran to try to get to second base safely). And if you watch softball or baseball, you’ll know that the shortstop is the one who has to cover second base to receive a throw from the catcher and tag the runner out. So I ran over to second base, got the throw easily and was ready to tag the girl out. But, as I bent to tag the runner, for some unknown reason, she tried to plow through me and slide through my legs… not a good idea. I was knocked to the ground in pain, my head hit the dirt pretty hard, but I was only paying attention to the fact that I got her out. The inning ended and it was time for us to hit. My coach asked me how I was feeling, and of course, wanting to play, I said I was fine. I ended up playing the rest of the game. On the drive home, after the game, my head was throbbing and in pain from hitting the ground so hard.
​
The next day I woke up with a horrible headache. I felt dizzy and everything was bothering me: noise, bright lights, you name it. I remember that, throughout the day, my friends kept asking me “Katie, are you okay? What’s wrong?” because I wasn’t acting like my usual self. I knew something was wrong but I wasn’t really sure what. After school, I got ready for practice, as always, and went down to the field to begin warmups. My teammates immediately noticed something was wrong and told the coaches, who brought me to the sports medicine room to meet with the athletic trainer at my school. She noted my symptoms and called my parents, as she suspected that I had a concussion. My parents brought me to the Emergency room that evening and after a CT scan, the doctor diagnosed me with a concussion.
​
I’d never really heard of a concussion before, so I wasn’t sure how to respond to this. The doctor suggested that I take a week off of school and see how I would feel before going back to school. I did not listen because finals was coming up. I tried to continue with my daily life, but take breaks when needed. The doctor told me that I wasn’t allowed to go to any softball practices or games until I got cleared. I couldn’t even sit on the bench and watch.
​
The rest of the school year went by and my headaches slowly began going away during the summer. I was able to start getting back into my normal routine. It took over 3 months before my headaches fully went away and I finally got cleared by the doctor to play sports again. I ended up missing most of the summer season for softball, but fortunately returned for the last tournament before the next school year. I realized that I probably should have stayed home from school to give my head a break. Maybe I would have gotten cleared earlier. I also knew that when you get a concussion, you’re more likely to get a second one than someone who’s never gotten a concussion before. But, I decided that I would be careful so that I wouldn’t risk getting a second concussion.
​
Four months later, I got another concussion.
​
It was Friday night. I was taking a nice, hot shower to wind down after a long, stressful week of school. All of a sudden, I lost my balance and went crashing down on the soapy tiles. My head hit the side wall in the shower so hard and made the loudest noise. Immediately, I knew I got another concussion. I stayed on the ground in the shower for a few more minutes trying to give my head some time to recover. It seemed as though everything was spinning and every time I tried to stand up, I would fall back down again. After numerous attempts, I was able to get up. I quickly finished showering and left the bathroom. I felt just as awful as I did when I got my first concussion, but I tried to block out all my symptoms. First semester finals were coming up in a few weeks and as a sophomore, it was really important for me to do well. However, my headaches and other concussion symptoms were bothering me immensely and I wasn’t able to focus at all. A few days after my fall, my parents took me to the Emergency room, where I was diagnosed with a concussion. Again. I was not happy.
​
Since it was almost finals week, I decided to stay in school and just deal with the headaches. After all, I reasoned with myself, winter break was right around the corner, giving me two full weeks to rest and recover from my fall. I suffered from headaches, light and noise sensitivity, and dizziness for the next few weeks until it was finally winter break. I gave my head a break from work, stress, and electronics, hoping I would get better quickly. But of course, my head didn’t get better. I felt as if I had just wasted my whole winter break doing nothing in hopes of my head getting better, but instead, nothing had happened and I ended break feeling just as awful as I did going into it. Just before the start of the second semester, I returned to the doctor and was prescribed medication for my headaches and referred me to a physical therapist. The physical therapist had me on a vestibular and balance training program.
​
After several months of persistent symptoms, I returned to the doctor and she referred me to a pediatric neurologist who specializes in concussions. I was diagnosed with Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS), basically meaning that I had prolonged concussion symptoms. He increased my medication dosage and I continued seeing my physical therapist every other week. After over 7 months of headaches and other symptoms, I was finally making progress. My headaches went down in severity and most of my symptoms were completely gone.
​
It’s now the summer before my junior year. I am finally recovering from my second concussion and slowly easing myself back into softball. I missed the entire spring season of high school softball but I’m slowly returning to playing summer travel ball with my team. I’m thankful that my headaches were finally able to go away and I could do things without instantly getting a headache. My experiences have inspired me to educate my community on concussions, and I’m honored to be able to educate others to lessen their risk of getting a concussion.