It has been a little more than one month since Tony suffered a concussion in his CYO basketball team’s playoff game, which turned out to be their final game of the 2022-2023 season. It has been an up and down ride for Tony when it comes to concussion symptoms.
I have been wrestling with the idea of documenting Tony’s recovery from the concussion but felt that putting it in writing for others to see might make it easier for you to deal with the same situation should your child suffer a concussion.
Nicole and I dealt with various injuries during our younger days, including broken bones, sprains, ligament tears, and asthma. However, neither one of us suffered a concussion. This is new and highly stressful territory for both of us. We didn’t know what to expect. For the most part, we are still walking through this blindly.
Today is the first part of a multi-part series documenting Tony’s road to recovery from a concussion.
As I previously wrote, Tony suffered a concussion on February 25th. He did not start showing signs of a concussion until that Tuesday, February 28th when he started complaining of headaches, dizziness, and feeling like he was going to fall over when standing up or walking. The headaches have remained for the past few weeks, but the dizziness, nausea, and issues with balance have subsided. Tony never lost consciousness when he suffered the injury, and according to the Mayo Clinic, post-concussion symptoms can last from weeks to months and even longer.
All of these are common signs of a concussion. We were in constant contact with one of our best friends, who is a pediatrician. She even evaluated Tony after lunch at school one day. We are so blessed to have her in our lives, answering our questions, alleviating our fears, and helping us understand all that Tony is experiencing during his recovery.
It has been a difficult road so far. Tony likes to move around. He loves riding his bike, playing outside with Enzo, and playing football at recess with his friends. He enjoys gym class and was returning to the school track team this spring. Now, Tony has to try to sit still in order to recover from his concussion.
Tony has now experienced two setbacks in his recovery. The first came in the wee hours of the morning a couple of weeks ago. He played football at recess the day before and then went inside to play practice where music was playing, students were singing, and the room was very loud. Tony woke up early the next morning complaining of a bad headache and dizziness. He eventually threw up and stayed home from school.
His pediatrician put him out of athletics, gym class, and recess for the following week-plus. Just as he was starting to once again feel better, Tony attended a fundraiser basketball game at our local high school as a spectator. He was pulled out of the crowd and asked to take part in a skit on the court. It involved dancing to upbeat, fast music.
As Tony walked off the court to climb back into the stands he was ash white and complained of dizziness. He was with Nonna and Enzo and they decided to immediately leave the event. While exiting, they ran into the crew on duty that night from the fire department. The crew noticed Tony didn’t look good so they sat him down and took his vitals, all of which were normal.
The shift lieutenant called me to let me know what happened. Tony came home and Nicole and I put him in the car and drove him to the CHOP Emergency Room at Virtua Voorhees. We were brought into triage almost immediately where they took Tony’s blood sugar, which was normal.
After sitting in an ER room for close to four hours, Tony was finally released. He was given electrolytes in an attempt to combat his dizziness and balance issues. Again, all of his vitals were normal. Tony also underwent an EKG, which was normal.
The ER doc recommended that Tony see a sports medicine doctor who specializes in concussions. Tony will see one of Virtua’s sports medicine specialists later today in the hopes of determining a treatment plan that is more effective than what we have been trying so far.
We hope to have more answers after Tony’s appointment this afternoon with the sports medicine specialist, or at least guidance as to how to properly treat his symptoms (headaches), and that will be discussed in part two of this series.
