My Concussion and Experience with the Medical System in the US.

Hi folks!

Very much happened since my last blog post. I will talk today about my concussion which I got during wrestling practice.

It happened on November the 20th. I went to practice where we tried a new move. I had to lock Patrick’s head (a teammate) under my right arm. I pressed his head down, but somehow his head slipped out of my hand and bumped into the right side of my head. I didn’t pass out but I felt dizzy and my head hurt. I talked to my coach, Coach P, told him exactly what just happened and he knew what to do. He made sure that my Hostmom knows about it so he called her. He explained what happened, and told her that it might be a concussion. My Hostmom came to pick me up right after the call and filled a concussion form out with my coach. We got home, and I thought it wasn’t a concussion, so I just got ready to leave the next morning for Thanksgiving to drive to Oregon. I had an intense headache since Tuesday the day it happened. Focusing and thinking clear was hard. I thought all those symptoms are not relevant for a concussion, but I was wrong. We went to the doctor on Sunday after we drove back on Saturday. We went to urgent care in Burien that I can get cleared, but they send us to a hospital. They were talking about a CT of my head which made me feel nervous. At the hospital, they took some test, and fortunately not a CT. „You have a concussion,“ said the doctor. I was sitting on the bed with a hospital gown on, and I was confused. Deep inside me, I was expecting that answer, but it was still shocking. He gave me a prescription to get Tylenol, 1000 mg if needed every six hours. 

I had those strong headaches for one and a half weeks, and after that, it started to get better. My grades were frozen, I was allowed to rest at the nurse and I didn’t have to do homework which sounds good but wasn’t. I felt how far behind I fell, and I didn’t want to be treated specially. I feel good today but I am still recovering. I will hopefully get cleared in a few days so I can go back to practice. Miss Laura our athletic trainer is working the situation out with me so I can come back to normal, step by step.

At the urgent care, the hospital or the pharmacy my insurance was always hard to figure out. I got an insurance card, but the receptionists didn’t really know what to do with it. The complications just made it take longer, and headaches stronger.

At this point I want to say „Thank you“ to Karin (my host mother), Coach Perales, miss Laura, miss Tessandore and to everyone who helped me to recover more easily.

I hope this post helps you to understand better how it can be as an exchange student. My concussion hadn’t only negative sides. I learned how important a head injury is and that everyone cares. I am on my way back to normal.

Thanks for reading.

-Amin