NO MORE FOOTBALL

Thursday night was a scary one..... I was asked to play in a flag football game with some friends so of course I jumped on the opportunity to play. It was a pretty competitive game and I made some important plays to get the game into over time. I remember the whole game up until over time, then its a blur. The next thing I remember is hearing people talking over me and saying the ambulance is on the way, they called my house and that Brooke and my parents were on their way. I had know idea what had happened. Before I knew it the paramedics were loading me on the back board, putting me in the ambulance and starting an IV. I was pretty out of it; repeating questions, asking what was going on and clearly I had a concussion.

Supposedly I dove to make a game winning touchdown in the end zone, and when I came down my face/head hit the ground and the defender landed on me. I was laying face down on the ground, unconscious and not breathing for 20-30 seconds. There was a nurse and a MD on the sidelines which gave me immediate attention when this happened. I am very grateful for all those that helped in the incident and reacted quickly to get emergency personnel to the field.

I really don't remember everything. I was pretty confused. Even though it was a serious accident and I was being treated as a trauma patient I was still cracking jokes. i.e... I hope my feet don't stink too bad as they were taking off my football cleats. ha

Once at the hospital the doctor quickly examined me and I was rushed off to get a CT scan on my head, neck and back. The CT scan showed that I had a small hematoma near the crown of my head. This is a small bleed and it was about the size of a dime. The result from slamming my head on the ground and maybe someone landing on my head jarred my brain against my skull creating a tare allowing blood to come through the brain tissue. The doctors wanted to keep me over night to monitor my condition and make sure it did not worsen. After a lot of sleep and pain meds and another CT scan I was able to come home yesterday afternoon. The second CT scan showed that the bleed did not get any bigger and that was a positive. So now I am home resting and taking it easy. I still have a gnarly headache and my face is pretty swollen. I took these pictures on the way home from the hospital. I tried to get Brooke to take pictures of me when I was on the backboard and had the C-collar on but she didn't want to.

I am so grateful that I had Brooke at my side the whole time. She would have slept at the hospital with me but they wouldn't let her. I love how much she loves me. So...no more football for me and probably no snowboarding for me this season. This is my third major concussion and the doctor says it would be in my best interest to not have another one. So I will be sticking to softball and golf for now.

Thanks to everyone who showed their love and concern. I appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and love.