Hey there! I want to first say that I know I'm not the most severe concussion, but I wouldn't say mine has been a cup of tea. I'm grateful for where I am recovery wise, grateful for all the support I've had, and grateful for the little blessings along the way. My story is rather long but here goes:

Tuesday November 8, 2011. The first ten weeks of my freshman year in high school was almost over. I was in gym class playing four square right underneath a basketball hoop. I'm pretty tall so I was right under it. There was a matter of miscommunication in the gym, it was crowded, etc.

A boy windmill threw a basketball as hard as he could at the basketball hoop right above me, less than 2 meters away. I was blindsided because I was serving in four square. I had just served and I saw a petrified look on the person across from me and then BAM! It hit me in the left temple and I immediately was out of it.

I didn't lose consciousness but it was a very weird feeling. I immediately was so dizzy, nauseas, overwhelmed with headache, and I had very VEEEERRRY slowed and slurred speech. I couldn't stand with out the feeling of passing out. I was in such pain that everything was just surreal to me.

I was wheelchaired up to the nurses office and checked out by my aunt who works at the school. She described her concern to the nurse. All this time I was very out of it, not myself at all. My nurse called my mom who was working and said I needed to go home but I should be fine. My grandma ended up coming to pick me up. She was extremely concerened!! We waited at my house until my mom got home.

Since we had never dealt with a concussion, and the nurse said I'd be fine, my mom and grandma were waiting it out to see how everything went. After about an hour of my mom being around me she was 110% convinced we were going to the hospital.

We went to the closest ER where I got an IV, some medicines (can't recall them), and a cat scan of my head. The results were structurally clear so they said that's all they could do for now. We were told to check up with our family doctor at some point, and for my mom to check me every hour through the night.


The following day, Wednesday, my mom was unsettled and so we went to my family doctor and he called Upstate and told them that he'd been in this business a long time and that something wasn't right. So, we immediately went to Upstate E.R.

I was checked by many doctors, and had an MRI with and without contrast of head and one of my neck. I still felt very dizzy, nauseas, EXTREMELY light and sound sensitive, no filter (everything I thought came out), not myself at all, didn't make eye contact, VERY slow and slurred speech, high headache, neck ache, tired, emotionally like a toddler (I would get into a mood quickly and have a hard time getting out of it), and very non-schalant.

I had even more symptoms but that's all I can think of on the spot. I also needed someone walking with me at all times because I was so dizzy.

I had even more symptoms but that's all I can think of on the spot. I am very pain-tolerant but this was some of the worst pain ever. The next couple of days were spent sleeping. I slept sooooooo much!! I couldn't have any lights or sounds on and I couldn't stay awake or stimulated for more than a few minutes. I had to have someone with me at all times. I iced my head in an attempt to distract me from my raging headache in fact I'd consider it a migraine.

Also, concussion headaches are different than regular headaches. They affect the while body. That's all you can think about you can feel your heartbeat throughout your body and the places you have headache pains are multiple places along your head and down your spine.

Then came Saturday the 12th. I had been sleeping all day and at one point my papa asked if I was ok because I was falling over. Basically, my headache and out of it-ness had increased, and Saturday my right side strength went out the window. Also, nothing had gotten better especially my slowed and slurred speech. Not only did I have balance, dizziness, and overall body weakness problems, I now had extreme right side strength loss.

So we went back to upstate and the doctors were somewhat speechless. One particular nurse that had been there on Tuesday said she hadn't seen many cases like mine before and she'd been a nurse at the e.r. for a long time. I was told that they had done everything they could, and I was to rest and follow up with the concussion clinic.

I have sooooooooo much more of a story but I feel like I should do separate parts. That's all for now.
❤ always, Brianna.

P.S. I want to help others and become a concussion advocate and I am more than open to learning more about TBI's.