Concussion: Conclusion

A couple weeks ago a posted an ambiguous entry called "CONCUSSION" and had the definition of what one is. Here's the tale that goes with it.

A couple weeks ago I decided to change the oil in our two Fords. Mine is easy. I reach under and it's all done in nothing flat. My wife's car is a little more work to get to, plus she had the car pulled nose first into the garage. I needed to make some space to work, as she had it pulled in so far. When I tried to stand up after making making room I clobbered myself on a shelf above my head. I'm not talking about a a typical piece of shelf material, I'm talking about a shelf made from 2 x 4's that juts out four feet from the rear wall and was about five feet above the ground.

As I stood I hit the back of my head on that shelf so hard that I went down like a sack of cement. I blacked out and when I came out of it my vision was impaired and couldn't hear from one ear. I carefully crawled out of the garage and sat on the side stoop until I felt relatively better.

I went to tell Mrs. Baxojayz about what happened, but she was more concerned with the limited daylight left at that point and didn't want to be bothered with a recap of my misfortune. So i went back into the garage and finished the job. Needless to say, I wasn't in top form and managed to crack myself in the same spot on the head a couple more times, but not as badly.

After I cleaned up I went into the house and sat to rest. I didn't feel well at all and researched what a concussion was, as it seemed like what I might've done to myself.

http://www.answers.com/topic/concussion?cat=health

A concussion occurs when the head hits or is hit by an object, or when the brain is jarred against the skull, with sufficient force to cause temporary loss of function in the higher centers of the brain. The injured person may remain conscious or lose consciousness briefly, and is disoriented for some minutes after the blow. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 300,000 people sustain mild to moderate sports-related brain injuries each year, most of them young men between 16 and 25.

While concussion usually resolves on its own without lasting effect, it can set the stage for a much more serious condition. "Second impact syndrome" occurs when a person with a concussion, even a very mild one, suffers a second blow before fully recovering from the first. The brain swelling and increased intracranial pressure that can result is potentially fatal. More than 20 such cases have been reported since the syndrome was first described in 1984.

After I read that I realized that I did have a concussion, and with the extra poundings on the noggin I could've bought my farm that day in the garage. Moral of the story? Be careful, you never know what the big guy upstairs has in store for you!