Iceman,

I am very sorry to hear about your son's injury. It sounds serious and worse than anything that I have experienced, so I am not sure that my experiences will be that relevant.

It might be hard to find a good doctor but I would look for a good brain doctor in your area, a neurosurgeon or a neurologist who is experienced with brain injuries. I know that he has been to hospital but I think that he should have some regular follow up. It sounds as though his condition is not stable yet. Until it is I think that you should be keeping his life as comfortable and stress-free as possible and let him rest and sleep as much as he wants. And don't put too much pressure on him.

Above all else make sure that he does not injure his brain any more while he is in the state that he is currently in. You mentioned his lack of coordination, so it might be a real risk that he would get a second concussion, which would be a disaster. For weeks or months after my concussion if I walked on hard ground I would feel shock waves in my head. That is how sensitive your head can be after having a concussion. A second concussion can be dangerous so avoiding that should be a top priority.

How did he get his concussion? Was he knocked out? Sounds like football.

I am sure that the doctors will have checked our your son for acute conditions such as pressure building up in the skull and bleeding but I feel that you should be in touch with someone that you can report back to if there are changes in your son's condition. Particularly, if he seems to get worse. I think that you should find an expert who can advise you if there are signs that you should be looking out for.

Did they test for anything in the cerebrospinal fluid from the Spinal Tap? Abnormal concentrations of some molecules, such as glutamate, might indicate neurological damage. If they didn't find any abnormalities, that's good. They should be able to tell you what they were testing for and what is normal.

It is good if the scans didn't show anything abnormal but that doesn't mean that there is nothing wrong. The scans have limited resolution and there are types of damage that cannot be picked up on a scan.

Any concussion can be terrible but if your son has a more serious TBI then I think that he should have some sort of professional support.

I hope that it all turns round for him.
Things might be looking better in a few weeks.
All the best.

CS