“Can we get some hot chocolate now?” is how my concussion was found. That is what you get for snowboarding without a helmet because you want to wear your cute new Coach winter hat.

We had been snowboarding and I took a major fall. I seemingly was fine until I kept asking if we were going to get hot chocolate when we had just gotten some.

We were told to go to the hospital. Well, we were in Wisconsin. I have always been very particular about my hospital of choice. Apparently I made it very clear to him that we would be driving all the way back to Minnesota to my hospital. At the time I was working for a neurologist who worked at this hospital.

So over an hour and thirty minutes later, we arrived at the hospital. I do not remember any of this but when we got there I am told I told the staff exactly what tests I wanted ordered and what neurologist I wanted paged. I vaguely remember when a nurse came into the room I told him that he looked really familiar. My neurologist told me after at work that they were laughing because every single time the nurse came into my room, I would tell him that he looked really familiar. That must have been so annoying but hello, my short term memory was shot to hell.

Typically we hear about concussions happening in male athletes. Well, concussions do not discriminate because you don’t have a penis. Having to get the MRI actually helped diagnose other health issues that I was having.

The next few days I do not really remember much. I was diagnosed with a concussion, a broken coccyx, and major bruises on my body from the fall. My neurologist called me to come in right away and see him. I knew this was not a good sign. I have dealt with horrid headaches my entire life and used to pass out when I was younger but the doctors could never find anything wrong. Well, it took my getting a concussion to figure out that I have a cyst in my brain.

The cyst, which is an arachnoid cyst (the kind you want if you unfortunately have one), they now believe causes pressure on my brain leading to my headaches. The cyst is the large white area in the bottom of the picture at the top. They are not electing to do any surgery at this time because they cannot guarantee that it would alleviate my headaches.

Still several years later after the concussion my short term memory still has lapses at times and my damn coccyx still hurts! Sometimes I find myself having to repeat things to myself several times so I remember them. Directions I have to have written down for me, even if it is something simple. It was a scary experience. To add to the it, my father was diagnosed with T-cell CNS lymphoma and had to have a portion of his brain removed. I am crossing my fingers and legs that my cyst does not progress into anything else.

I have only had one concussion. I cannot imagine being an athlete who has had more than one and continues to go on playing. My concussion experience was bad enough that I do not even want to know what I would be like if I got another.

So, even as nerdy as it may look, wear a helmet. It may save your life and your brain.

CDC website with info about concussions and support groups

Concussions in Sports by ESPN

SN Concussion Report: Five-part series overview

Youth Football:Concussion concerns push participation down