Boy, doesn't that sound dramatic! I do tend to lean towards hyperbole (although maybe not quite as much as my all time favorite blog, Hyperbole and a Half), but just this once I'm actually not stretching the truth at all - my diagnosis quite literally was TBI! So let's rewind a bit here.
On Saturday, June 1st at work, the metal door of a hanging filing cabinet slipped off its track and fell on my head - hard. Have you ever been hit so hard with something that it didn't even hurt, just kind of dazed you? That's what happened to me. I teared up, not from pain, but just from the sheer force of it conking me in the noggin and causing my eyes to water. It happened early in the day, probably around 11am, and right before I was getting ready to go heat up some food for lunch, so I kind of just shook it off, went to the breakroom, made a few calls and ate my food and forgot about it. Something else exciting happened at work that day (a scorpion fell out of someone's pants while we were chatting at my desk! It was crazy!) that kind of distracted me and made me forget about even hitting my head, so when Clinton came to pick me up from work I just told him that story. When we got home I went to get a snack and hit my head again on the freezer door, so I got frustrated and almost cried and decided to just go take a nap because I felt like I was having an off day. Luckily, nothing bad happened when I went to sleep because I didn't know at the time that I had a concussion! When I woke up from my nap I was ready to enjoy the long weekend ahead of us, since we had taken off Monday and Tuesday.
Sunday I was so dang tired all day - we went to a movie and maybe shopping or something, I really don't remember, but whatever it was, it wasn't much - and I wound up taking another nap. Later on I was talking to my mom on the phone and my step-dad told her to tell me to make sure that on Wednesday when I returned to work I should file an incident report since I got hit in the head and might have a concussion. At the time, I still didn't really feel any different other than having a headache, but figured I still would just in case. Monday was my birthday and like I mentioned in my last post, it was good and a long day, but about halfway through the day I had to go home to take a nap, and in the evening when we went to go out to eat, I ended up having to stay home because of overwhelming nausea. Clinton suggested I drink some water because I might just be dehydrated from walking around an outdoor mall earlier that day, and I did, but at that point I remembered what my step-dad had said and started to wonder if I did have a concussion. Tuesday was a bit more of the same - feeling a lot more tired than usual, and being pretty convinced I had actually hurt myself and needed to go to a doctor, but we had my niece that day and I was more focused on her. We spent some time at the pool, watched Monsters, Inc., and ate gelato.
Wednesday when I got to work I felt fine, but a couple hours in I was feeling just awful - I was waiting for my manager to get out of a meeting, and as soon as she was at her desk I went to tell her about hitting my head on Saturday, and that I thought I needed to go to the doctor because I was really not feeling good. She had me call to file a workman's comp claim and request leave if necessary, and she looked up an urgent care for me to go to that was approved through the worker's comp. While I was on the phone answering a ton of questions, my condition rapidly deteriorated. I started to feel like I was losing it - I kept having to ask her to repeat things and when she asked me a question I just sat there for a minute waiting for her to ask me the next thing because I thought I had answered it, I got so nauseated that I almost threw up in my trash can, stuff like that. So obviously things were not right, so my boss told my husband (luckily we work together) to just take me straight to the urgent care right then. When we got there they asked me a bunch of questions, did a vision test, checked my balance and reflexes and a neurological exam and I'm sure some more stuff that I can't remember - and then they told me to stay home from work, and return on Friday afternoon for a follow-up with the doctor, but in the meantime, they wanted me to go to the ER for a 2nd evaluation and a possible CT scan.
After a short wait they took me right back and I had to answer all the same questions for the 3rd time that day, and they re-did the same evaluative tests that I had done at urgent care. I saw two doctors there and they said that they didn't feel a CT scan was necessary because they would be doing it to check for a brain bleed, and since the initial injury had occurred 4 days prior and I was still standing there talking to them after going to sleep and waking up several times, the chances of me having an active brain bleed were extremely slim and they didn't recommend subjecting my body to that much radiation if it wasn't needed. So, after all that, I was discharged with a diagnosis of TBI with brain bruising and delayed onset of post-concussive symptoms.
At least now there was an explanation for all my necessary naps and ruined birthday dinner! By this point I was feeling pretty rough, so we went home and got fast food for dinner because there was no way I was cooking, and Clinton wanted to just get me something quick and easy so I could go to sleep.
I ended up having Thursday and Friday off but those days don't really need a recap, as they were extremely dull and filled with bed rest. Let's just say that I don't think I'll have a desire to marathon Bridezillas any time soon! But my puppy was in pure heaven, since she got to lay around cuddling me all day! Friday afternoon when Clinton got home he took me in for a follow-up where the doctor cleared me for work Monday, with the caveat of still taking it easy through the weekend.
I probably did too much Saturday I was supposed to go to my best friend's pool party but I obviously didn't do that because it would have been way too much - I didn't do anything high intensity or anything, but I was just sick of being lazy, so in the morning I cleaned the bathrooms and then I was out for too long having lunch w/ my dad and brother, and I paid for it dearly Saturday afternoon and night/Sunday morning. I felt so tired and sick Saturday night so I just laid around and went to sleep early, and then Sunday morning we were set to meet with Debbie for the Butterfly Wonderland - I did do it even though I wasn't feeling super amazing, but as soon as we were done with that I went home and took a 4 hour nap, so I felt much better after that. Monday and Tuesday I worked and then went home and relaxed all night, save for about an hour Monday when I went to get a haircut. I'm feeling a lot better today and have one last follow-up appointment at urgent care to close out my worker's comp claim, but think I'll continue resting through the weekend and not try to do too much because it really does affect me. Usually once or twice a week after work Clinton and I will go see a movie, but we haven't even done that this week. This actually sounds completely ridiculous, but if I'm walking too long/doing too much/thinking too hard, it literally makes my brain hurt! It sounds really silly, but it's true. It also feels kind of dumb to be rendered completely helpless when you don't even have any visible injury AND it starts 4 days after the fact, but oh well. Hey, the brain is a sensitive thing, what can I say?
So that's the story of my concussion! Here's hoping I don't get hit in the head again anytime soon because seriously, this damn thing came back with a vengeance and I really don't want to go through it again!
Have you ever had a concussion or brain injury? Misery loves company, right? I hope your recovery was quicker than mine, in any case!
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