November 9 - Concussion....what?!

We knew the day would come... After meeting a few spinal cord injured people who told us about when they have fallen out of their wheelchair or had other accidents, we knew it would happen sooner or later.  We were hoping for later and not so severe!

This morning AJ was trying to bump over the edge of an area rug; but today we forgot to set the wheelchair tippers in place. So, he fell straight backward!  He hit his head hard on the wood floor, then his body and the chair fell to the side.  He seemed to have a split second of blacking out, but he was alert in the next moment.  It was especially scary because he went numb for a moment from his injury down and couldn't move his arms. But within moments his limited movement was back.

He went through shock for some time after the fall so we called the U of U rehab spinal doctor who told us to watch him and bring him to the hospital if there were any neurological changes. John and his dad administered a blessing before we lifted him to his bed and then we kept an eye on him for a couple of hours.  Although he seemed to be doing well, the pain in his neck continued and the skin on the parts of his body that have normal feeling were hypersensitive. So, we packed up and went to the ER.  By the time we got there, he was nauseated and his head was pounding.


Over the next 10 hours they monitored him and took a CAT scan and an MRI.  The CAT scan showed that his head and neck were okay, but the last screw in the fuzed vertebrea looked crooked. The doctors could not determine if it had been damaged or if the CAT scan was just at a strange angle.  So, they took an MRI also.  Thankfully, the MRI came back normal -- there was no damage to his surgery site.  So, were released and went home with the diagnosis of a concussion.

Sunday came and AJ felt terrible!  Throughout the day his head would start pounding and he would throw up repeatedly. Later in the evening though, he started to feel better and was able to keep dinner down. By Monday he had a little headache but felt much better.  He didn't go to therapy on Monday, but was ready to roll by Tuesday.  Concussions are terrible!

Moral of this story.....REMEMBER TO PUT THE TIPPERS ON!!!