PCS questions for my Son??
 

All Members,

Help!!

My son suffered from a Concussion on Dec. 17th. He came home and began to lose function of his speech, memory, and coordination. Went to the ER-discharged for concussion. Condition worsened. Within in three days he had been admitted to a PICU at a local hospital. 2 MRI's, 2 CT scans, and a Spinal tap later and they could not find anything? My son's funtions have been slow at best. He was discharged after 3 days and we were told that he had PCS. He has no memory of anything before the accident and did not remember his siblings and longtime friends. He has trouble speaking and functioning. His mentality is like a 3-4 year old. He has been in this fog since the accident except for a few days of clarity from 12/29-12/31. During this time frame he remembered everything before the accident and nothing since? When he woke up on 1/1/11 he was Lost again? Has this happened to anyone out there? Is this common with PCS? What is the prognosis? Could he have suffered a more severe TBI? What can we do to help him?

Any help is appreciated-Thoughts and ideas!!!!

Thank You,
Concerned Father

How old is your son?

It sure sounds like a serious injury, I hope you can find some good help and tips here in the other threads as well as our useful stickys up above the threads list.

My son is 15 years old. Advanced classes, smart kid!! We have started learning the alphabet and numbers all over again!!!

Try to find a good brain doctor
 

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

Sorry to hear of your son's injury. My first concussion was in 1965 at 10 years old. I suffered slurred speech for 3 or 4 days and academic struggles on and off ever since. I was a A student. I struggled after that but did recover to get top grades. My academic life was a roller coaster ever since.

My first recommendation is simple. Get him evaluated at a Rehabilitation Hospital. The specific doctor to look for is called a Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine specialist, or vice versa.

He needs to be evaluated by an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, etc. The R&PM doctor will have referrals.

Get the TBI Survival Guide. It can be downloaded at http://www.drakecenter.com/file.axd?...vivalGuide.pdf

You can read it online at the author's web site: www.tbiguide.com

You are likely in for a long haul. Most important is to become informed with good information, then relax and let time and therapy do its best.

If you haven't already seen them, be prepared for personality and behavioral changes that may be a struggle. Don't blame him for the personality and behavior issues. In time, you and his therapist may be able to teach him how to work-around the behavioral issues.

Let us know how he is doing. My heart goes out to you and your family.

My best to you.