Head Injury?

Over Valentines weekend, I took a freak fall while on the slopes with the family. I was coasting while watching my Darbie take a jump (is that a cycling term? maybe I should use cruising), and caught an edge and went down. Now let me remind you that I have been skiing since 7th grade, so I don't consider my self a novice, even though with age, I find myself not as daring as in the past. I thought as I was going down, "oh gosh, oh gosh! Please don't hurt anything". Well, I hit my head pretty good and felt the whiplash in my neck and thought "whew" we are good. Well, little did I know I had sustained a concussion that would put me in bed for 11 days and out of training for 3 weeks. The CT scan showed good, so I knew it was just a matter of time before I would feel better. Really? I was concerned not knowing when training should resume and how to begin. Speaking with Allison Dunlap really was encouraging as she had sustained a head injury a few years back and we discussed her road to recovery and it seemed long... but promising. I began by walking; this was a novel concept. Everything moves so SLOW when you are walking! I kept thinking, "is my heart rate even registering that I'm alive?" It was good though, and progressed be to get on the bike (on the trainer) and continue to progress. Then it was in the pool. This was interesting, as I was still dealing with headaches daily, the pressure of the water and cap and goggles was just enough to about put me over the edge, but being determined, I removed the cap for a couple of weeks while the healing continued and would attempt to tie all my hair down and swim. I made a mental decision that I would not let all those little hairs floating around in my face BUG me.... and so they didn't. I focused on my ability to be back in the water again... and frankly, it made me very happy. Running was good and the last thing I got back into (and it suffered the most ;-) Once again, running felt good, as long as I avoided wearing a visor or a hat. It amazed me the sensitivity of my head! It took about 4 weeks before a had a day without a headache, then a couple more before I had 2 days consecutively without a headache.... now 11 weeks post injury, I am only having headaches 2-3 times a week. I am very happy!!! It was a challenge to work through those on a daily basis and made me a very crabby person dealing with pain like that on a regular basis. I tried not to be, but noises seemed magnified a 100 times and my children kept getting the, "shhh" Momma's head hurts again. I think my friend Sean had mentioned as well, "Boy, I can really tell when your head is hurting ;-)". It has made me empathetic to those that deal with daily pain and trauma... and hopefully has made be a better person, a better athlete, mother, wife and coach.