Concussion and Pool

Not many people know this, but I was in a one car accident on the way to work back in late June.

I ran over something in the road and it caused me to veer into a ditch.  My airbag came on, my car needed to be towed, and I was obviously late to work. I got a burn on my right hand from the airbag, and while I will have a scar, it could have been much worse and I'm very lucky.

What I didn't know right away, but figured out a few weeks later, was I got a concussion.

I was forgetting even the smallest of things and could not remember emails I sent at work, the correct words were hard to locate in my brain, names would evade me, etc.

It finally hit me (sorry for the pun) that maybe I got a concussion.

So, I looked up the symptoms and most importantly, what can I do if I have one.

The only "symptom" I had of all the ones listed, was memory loss.

And what can one do if you have a concussion?  OMG, it said to rest!  Am I suppose to rest for weeks on end?  I have to work and live!

You might be thinking to yourself maybe I'm just getting old(er) but this was a SUBSTANTIAL memory difference.

I wondered how I would do at BCAPL Nationals less than a month later after the accident.  Would I "forget" how to run out?  Forget certain aspects of playing pool?

Sure enough, a couple of instances I wasn't thinking clear or made really stupid choices and decisions.  It hindered me a little, but I admit not enough to lose matches (just games).

Then my friend Teri had a car accident (about a month ago) and her air bag deployed, also.  And she too is now suffering short term memory loss and having a difficult time remembering which words to use or saying the wrong words, just like I was.

While we will both be okay, it's still very scary.

I can tell my memory has improved from that scary day in June, but every once in a while I will still struggle with the right word to say or use.