Concussion denial: in mixed marital art (or UFC) fighting like bike helmet debate?

[shootingstar]

I've tried to stay away from concussion discussion 'cause I'm one of those with cumulative injury. Not sure how many I've had. Just know I've had more than enough. My last one, if it were to happen to an average person with 0 or 1 concussion prior then most likely, that person would have walked away with a mild one. I ended up without short term memory for a while, I have no recollection of ambulance ride nor the hospital stay nor being discharged from the hospital after a week or so stay. Neurosurgeon said that there will be no next one for me.

This is just more details of what happened to me on Jan. 1, 2015 (this is how I started a new year):

Like you smilingcat for your last concussion (I assume your neurosurgeon meant if there was another one next time, then you could be disabled.), I have no recollection of what happened for 3 hrs. or so after the other cyclist crashed into me. I was turning a corner on a bike path.

I don't even have memory when the collision occurred. No memory of me waiting (and babbling) by the bike path while waiting for ambulance, no memory of ambulance ride, no memory of being rolled in the CT scanner at hospital. It was like the movies: I woke up in some pain and I was lying on a spinal board in hospital bed. I also had a neck brace put on me. My partner and neurological intern was bending over me. My partner asked me a question to test my memory: "When did your father die?"

I was able to specify correctly: 2 wks. ago. Then I cried and said my father was no longer around. That he was dead. My partner was relieved because he told me, my memory was finally coming back.

Jack, my partner, said that after the collision, I got up and sort of walked. I was talking and repeating, repeating some sentences. This is why Jack was uncertain if there was anything wrong with me. But bystanders and he had 911 call placed. There was an off-duty police officer and someone who seemed to have first response experience in calming me down and keeping me warm. I don't remember any of this.

Anyway, my sister-emergency medicine doctor explained to me that: immediately after a concussion accident, sometimes a person's short term memory is lost temporarily...that what you said to me, I wouldn't have remembered what you said at all. Also me looking at a person, but not seeing nor retaining visual memory right at that moment. In otherwise: I was a walking, talking robot, not undersanding anything nor even retaining visual understanding/memory of what I was seeing in front of my face.

Every few hrs. for 24 hrs., hospital staff asked me a series of same questions to test my memory.


I had my memory back but first month, even reading a computer screen was exhausting, scrolling screen up and down was too much. Physicians request that there be no computer screen time for first few wks. (this will vary, depending on severity). Not even iPhone. I was dizzy for first 2 months ...to point I got dizzy just turning slowly in kitchen to chop food. So Jack did 90% of food preparation and grocery shopping for lst 2 months.

My recovery included walking for 1/2 hr. with Jack daily. So we went to coffee shop. I could not even walk at night over snow and ice. During my recovery, I noticed when I would jog down a grocery aisle to find something quickly, I got slightly dizzy: it was because of all the different colours and shapes on shelves whizzing by. My physician told me that some patients are just dizzy being in a room with wallpaper designs.

I was back on bike in June 2015 and commuting to work. At this stage I was back to work full-time. But I was on disability leave for lst few months.

For Nandy:
I have never been a cycling competitor. I have never cycled with drop down handlebars. For last few years, probably cycle at a reasonable speed ..but under 18 km./hr. I don't time myself much..I just know how long it takes me to do xxxx distance to xxxx destination. I've been a cyclist, car-free for nearly last 24 yrs. I have done several multi-wk. cycling tours with my own loads over the years. I will be 57 this yr.

Because I don't drive, then I rely on my own mobility to walk, cycle or take transit. Hence, I do have to ensure I reduce risks. ....not just for health and fitness, but for work and shopping. Sometimes my partner is somewhere else because we have 2 homes. So I do need to be able-bodied to do stuff solo too.
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Here is gratitude for our brain: Our brain works SO HARD for us. Our brain is the command control center for everything that we do. It controls every step we make, every movement, our speech, vision, it regulates other bodily functions, etc.