Hi All,

My 15-year-old daughter was in a bike accident on Sunday. No one saw what happened and she has no memory from immediately before or after, but people reached her quickly and I was there within 5 minutes. She was wearing a helmet but obviously hit face-first not the top or back of her head. She was very confused and nauseous at the time and I took her to the ER. Clean CAT scan and the doctor told her she had suffered a mild to moderate concussion.

She's a dedicated soccer player and has a big game this weekend, the ER doc told her she could play, but I've vetoed it. I've also kept her out of school all week. She's been taking it easy, doing lots of crafts, listening to music, but she still seems a little slow to me. We went for a very short walk today (200m - Day 4) and it seemed to me that her coordination was off and after about 5 minutes she complained that her headache was back. She's been tired all week too.

School is willing to give her the time she needs, but she is getting anxious about how much school she's missing and is very, very sad that I might not let her play out the rest of her season, it really is her passion. I'm trying to remain calm, cheerful, yet firm but gotta say, inside I'm freaking out! My husband is willing to follow my lead on keeping her home, but he's also concerned about how much school she's missing and concerned about denying her the thing that makes her happiest.

We're going to see a concussion doc on Monday and I'm hoping to get some better guidelines. On the one hand, I've been so thankful for the Internet, there's a lot of reputable papers out there that have given me the courage to stay strong about no play this weekend and no school this week. But at the same time, some of the information and stories are terrifying. Reputable studies that say that even one adolescent concussion can cause permanent negative changes to the brain. And what about a second? Even once she's healed, how can I let her go back to soccer or even biking? I just want to duct tape her in bubblewrap!! Can't say any of this to her so I'm saying it here. Thanks for reading.