Concussions and the Rest of My Life

When I was about four years old I fell off a table at church and woke up in my bed at home. That was my first concussion. My second concussion happened when I was in first grade. My friend and I were playing on a swing set at recess. We discovered we could slip our little legs through the rings and hang upside down and swing ourselves around. We had done this many times before, and yet, this time something went wrong. I vaguely remember before, I don't remember being upside down, I don't remember falling. I don't remember being picked up or leaving the playground. The first thing I do remember is seeing myself being carried down the hall toward myself. Strange, I know.
My third concussion was sometime around fourth grade. I was riding my bike with my family to a park near our house. The paved road was edged with gravel before it faded into grass. I tried to see if anyone I knew was at the park as I rode down the paved road and my tire slipped off the pavement and onto the gravel. As I tried to hop the little lip back onto the road my tires skidded on the gravel and my bike fell, smacking my head on the pavement. I was disoriented and scratched up, but didn't lose consciousness like the times before.

The other night I listened to a podcast from Stuff You Should Know about concussions. They said that concussions can cause depression, anxiety, sinus troubles, headaches/migraines, memory troubles; as well as increasing the risk of Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and early death. Maybe I should stop listening to podcasts like that.

I told my mom about this and I said, "I guess I brought this on myself." She said, "No, you're a victim of circumstance." I said, "Well, if I hadn't been such a careless, rambunctious child..."

I can't undo the damage. I'll probably suffer from headaches and sinus troubles for the rest of my life; maybe bits of depression and anxiety too...but I've lived with all this for most of my life, so I've found some great ways to cope and I'm learning to endure in more positive ways. As for the Alzheimer's, dementia, and early death...well, I've heard that there are ways to strengthen the mind to guard against such degeneration. I'm an avid reader and writer. I love playing games and other such activities that require mental processes.

Most of life is a gamble anyway. I guess it doesn't really matter if my brain isn't as quick as others. I'm intelligent, I get good grades in school as long as I don't have to memorize things quickly. And my heart and determination make up for any deficiencies. We all have challenges in life, mine just happen to be mostly "in my head." Ha ha, bad joke. ;-)