I Learned The Hard Way That Concussion Isn't Just For The Young

I think I knew what was happening even before my head bounced off the hard kitchen counter on its way to the even harder stone floor. I was rapidly losing my connection with reality. My wife, Tabitha, later estimated that I was out for 10 minutes. When I emerged from unconsciousness I heard the sirens on the street in front of the house. It seemed as if half of Tucson's fire department was streaming through the front door.

I was scared. At my age, which is old, you laugh at any childlike faith in your immortality. In this case, what brought on the unconsciousness was apparently a quick turn of my head while reaching for an onion to peel for the night's dinner, followed by the knockout blow from hitting the floor.

I was scared. At my age, which is old, you laugh at any childlike faith in your immortality.

An enormous hook and ladder and an ambulance were drawn up in front of the house, sirens winding down. The commotion was embarrassing, but it was comforting to know that my wife was in the next room, had called for help, and that 911 had responded to her call as it was supposed to.

The emergency room doctor said I had a concussion a blow to the head that our new and improved language calls a MTBI. This scared me as much as the ambulance ride itself, since it stands for "Mild Traumatic Brain Injury."

To me, "brain injury" meant something sinister and probably permanent, something I had not seriously considered before. I foolishly had assumed that I could continue relying on my uninjured brain, along with my ultra-speedy two-finger typing, to make my living for the rest of my life.

It's not hard (if you're an emergency room physician), to spot the condition: a fall accompanied by a blow to the head. In my case, the mind's sudden descent into unconsciousness, followed by a slow return marked by a slurring of speech; inability to remember ordinary things like the words I use frequently; and a shockingly clumsy way of balancing myself and ambulating (the firemen first assessed my condition as drunkenness, but I hadn't touched a drop). My wife feared that I had suffered a stroke, but brain imaging at the hospital ruled that out.

In the past few years there's been increased attention to traumatic brain injuries in organized sports. But we old folks have the highest rates of TBI-related hospitalizations and deaths.

In the past few years there's been increased attention to traumatic brain injuries in organized sports. But we old folks have the highest rates of TBI-related hospitalizations and deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that traumatic brain injuries in a year averaged 52,000 deaths, 275,000 hospitalizations, 1,365,000 visits to emergency rooms overall. Falls were the primary reason for the ER visits in the youngest (0-4 years) and oldest age groups (65 years and older). In those age groups, falls accounted for 72.8 percent of the children's TBI-related visits, while for those of us 65 and older, it was 81.8 percent.

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I Learned The Hard Way That Concussion Isn't Just For The Young