Short version: Son gets hit on helmet and no one noticed, he didn't mention, surprise concussion.
Very long version (with lots of detail in hopes it helps someone else):
Saturday afternoon, 4th game in 40 hours, doubleheader, first game in decent heat, and the men are all tired.
Bottom 6, home team is leading. 2 out, suicide squeeze, son (catcher) tags runner out. It's a decent collision, with son leading in with knee to block the plate, and everyone hears a hit, but based on how they looked (in real time and later on video), everyone assumes it's runner helmet against catcher knee. Son pops up immediately and shows the ball. Games goes on, batter strikes out.
Roll to top 7, son is in the 3 hole. First two batters create two outs, son ends up with final out looking. Not something he normally does, but so
He gets in car, we chat, and within the first few sentences he says "I could barely see the ball that last at bat. It felt like I only had one eye open." Me - "You ok?" Him - "Yeah, I think the pollen may be getting to me again. And I'm just tired as heck." We talk about the play at home, he laughs at how he "buried the guy", and he says he can't wait to see the play.
Hit hotel for shower, then food, then head home (5 hr drive). He scarfs down food and falls asleep within 20 minutes of getting food. He's a good sleeper (I have dozens of pics of him asleep in car to/from games), but even this was a bit surprising in how fast he fell asleep. Texted wife to that effect, "He's wiped out from this weekend".
After 90 minute nap, he wakes up, and we shoot the breeze the remaining 3 hours home. Arrive at 10, he lays out on couch and sleeps from 10:30 - 12:30. Again, not a big surprise. Gets up, goes upstairs, sleeps till noon. A little surprising, but not massively.
We chat on the phone Sunday after he awakens, he's a bit groggy sounding, but attribute that to his voice. He eats, goes to hit, and when I get back home, he's asleep again on the couch. Sleeps from 4:30 - 7 that evening. When he awakens, we chat. Says he felt really out of it at hitting, wasn't seeing the ball well. Keep discussing, and he says he thinks he's just tired. We also talk about maybe pollen. Gets homework done on couch while I'm sitting there as well, has the usual teenager lack of attention at times, nothing big. No complaints.
Monday morning, he calls me while he's driving to school to ask me to check his contact prescription. I confirm it, and he says everything just seems really blurry. I tell him that it may be allergies? I'll look it up and see about getting some Alaway.
At home I watch the video another dozen times. I can't see any point at which his helmet makes contact with the other player, though the ump does block it a bit. But his helmet is soooo much higher than the sliding player, it doesn't seem possible. So I text son to that affect, and tell him that I was worried about this maybe being a concussion at first, but don't see how it could be. Probably just allergies kicking up here.
He texts back "His helmet DID hit my helmet, right at the bottom. I know because my jaw and teeth were sore afterward. IDK if it is a concussion issue or not but his helmet did hit my helmet. If it is a concussion, it would explain a lot of the things I felt yesterday."
I ask him to explain/list, please.
"Dizziness, slower processing of speech, going to sleep Saturday night felt like I had that boat affect where you're moving, having to think more about my responses, and then I feel like a little bit of eye strain and soreness. I can't see like normal."
Great..... "I'll check you out at 10."
On the way to ER, he says that he almost fell a couple of times going upstairs to his room, and he was stumbling some at school. And that a conversation he had with another player at hitting on Sunday took a looong time for him to even process.
ER visit yesterday resulted in preliminary diagnosis of concussion. Doctor visit today confirmed. Expects to be back within 14 days, but doctor said he actually thinks he'll be ready for a game on the 9th.
In hindsight, with all the information at hand now, it seems very obvious. But combining a (basically) invisible hit with a young man who's never had a head injury before, and this almost slipped by us. He would have been playing last night, and I hate to think of what could have happened.
