Possible Concussion-Sucker Punched-No Insurance!

Greg Battaglia · 03-01-2008, 06:00 PM

Ok, so last night I got jumped/sucker punched at a bar. I usually avoid bars like the plague, but most of my friends were in the mountains and my buddies that stayed home were adamant about going to the bar (a major dive bar I might add!)

To make a long story short, I figured I'd entertain myself by attempting to show some skills on the dance floor (Note: I'm an awful dancer!) which really was more embarrassing - but funny - than anything else.

Anyway, I started dancing all goofily with this group of girls. I guess one of the girls' boyfriend didn't like that very much and approached me after I left the dance floor. All I remember is he said "stop dancing with my girl" and then I blacked out. Apparently this guys buddy sucker punched me on the left side of my head with an empty beer bottle while I was talking to the girl's boyfriend.

No one helped me but my friends (bartenders, bouncers, none of them did anything about it!) and the guy was never found. He fled the scene immediately.

I don't remember anything else but I am told that I was out cold on the floor and my head and mouth were bleeding. My girl and my one buddy carried me out to her car and she drove me home (I don't remember the drive at all). When we got to my house I puked twice and laid in bed until I woke up for work this morning. I didn't sleep, as I figure I definitely have a concussion.

I had a massive headache when I got up for work and took 2 advil (I never take the stuff normally, but this headache was absolutely splitting). The advil helped tremendously well. The whole left side of my face and behind my left ear is all swollen as well. At work I felt a bit nauseous and off balance, but I improved as the day progressed.

I just ate dinner but I didn't really have much of an appetite. All I had was a sirloin steak and some broccoli with olive oil. That's all I could eat all day without getting sick. I looked in the mirror and my pupils were significantly constricted, more evidence of a concussion.

Right now I don't feel too bad. I mostly just feel very tired from not sleeping last night but have some mild nausea and a slight headache. I've gotten better over the course of the day.

Assuming that I have a concussion, is it really worth it to see a doctor? My girl had a concussion not to long ago and although she saw a doctor, they didn't do much for her other than given some basic common sense advice to get better. I don't have health insurance (because I took a semester off from school, my mothers plan no longer covers me) so a trip to the ER really isn't too realistic. Anyone know if it's ok to sleep at this point since I'm seeing improvement?

Other than that, I'm certain I won't be visiting the bar any time in the near future!

Chris Forbis · 03-01-2008, 07:34 PM

Wow, deja vu. Humor me, I have a story to tell.

October 2003

All my college friends have graduated. I'm taking one semester extra to finish. I decide to visit my college friend Jared who is working in D.C. for my fall break in my final college semester.

We go out drinking on Thursday and the bar we are at is shutting down at 1am. We hit another (sketchier) place that closes later. Some really drunk guy comes up to us while my friend is on the phone with another friend from college and demands to talk to them. We are in a good mood and having fun so we oblige. Not really sure what happened at this point, but guy ends up pissed off at us and knocks our large beers to the floor, shattering the glasses. He gets thrown out. When we ask the bar staff if they know the guy and what his problem was, they say that they know him and we catch flack as if we were the assholes in the situation.

My friend and I decide we don't want to hang out in a hostile environment like that, so we decide to leave. Same dude is outside. Next thing my friend and I know, we are waking up in a fucking ambulance. In the ER, my friend recovers quickly, but I am slow to recover. I get an IV. We get discharged around 5am, back to his place around 6am. Both of us sleep most of the next day and night (Friday), though I do have to get up to puke quite a bit.

I'm in DC to see shit, so on Saturday we go out to museums. I have a splitting fucking headache the entire time. Later on Saturday, after watching Beckett clinch the Series for the Marlins, I tell my friend we ought to go back to the ER, because I'm pretty sure they missed the fact that I had a concussion at the ER. I figure it might be worth checking out.

We go back to the ER. They decide that they probably just misdiagnosed me as being really drunk (which I was) and missed the concussion. They tell me they're going to run a cat scan on me and I'll be on my way. Cat scan runs. I'm waiting around for the results and they bring me a hospital gown to change into. And they give me an IV drip to keep my BLEEDING BRAIN from killing me.

SUBDURAL HEMATOMA. Luckily, 24 hours in ICU revealed the bleeding was not increasing, and I got discharged. A size of my brain the size of the thumb tip was destroyed. No observable changes, however. I like to explain to people that this is the reason I am such an asshole (it was in the region of the brain that affects personality). I had a headache for a month. No lingering effects.

My conclusion: they can't really do shit for a concussion, other than tell you that you have one. Just try to keep your brain safe.

Mike ODonnell · 03-01-2008, 08:00 PM

Yes...bars are not the best place to be. Sorry it happened, but sometimes we just can't control those things.

As for the concussions....well I have had....Ummmm......1 official blackout....and at least 5-6 more that just left me silly and stupid. Headaches were par for the course. I've seen plenty of people knocked out from the college bar days. My blackout was me driving to hockey practice and waking up in an ambulance. I got released that night. The one other time I went it to the ER was from hockey because I also needed stiches around my eye as it was split wide open. They took a cat scan and $4000 later....they found nothing and gave me the bill.

The sleeping thing I think is a myth as I always went to sleep at some point.

Other than internal hemoraging from a brain injury, I am not sure what they could do. I am not a doctor and that's your call to make as something like that hemoraging is serious and life threatening. I don't know the symptoms of it either, just what I caught on CSI about some chick getting hit in the head and then complaining of a headache....and then died later. So....don't take all your medical advice from 1 CSI episode...but be smart and decide what is best for you.

Garrett Smith · 03-02-2008, 07:43 AM

Greg, if anything starts worsening, get your butt to the ER immediately!

You may want to lay off your fish oils for a bit.

After this has settled down a bit, chiropractic and cranial-sacral therapy would be good ideas IMO.

Oh yeah, avoid dive bars in Pennsylvania (at least that's what my buddy tells me).

Steve Liberati · 03-02-2008, 07:59 AM

Hit-and-run?...what a punk!

Glad to hear it was nothing more serious. Wish you a fast recovery bro.

Jason Steele · 03-02-2008, 08:49 AM

Greg-

Hope everything comes out okay. I've had a few concussions in my time, (some soccer related others, um, stupidity related).

On a side note, (this especially applies to dive bars in PA. I've been to some doozies in the Uniontown, PA area...) you should always be aware of your surroundings. What's the probability of a group of women dancing with no significant others around?

Greg Battaglia · 03-02-2008, 09:22 PM

Hey guys, thanks for the supportive replies. Today I felt a bit sick and my nose started bleeding quite profusely after dinner. I didn't take any fish oil or any other blood thinning agent. I figured paying a hefty ER bill was worth not dying so I opted for the ER! I haven't informed my insurance company that I am currently out of school, so hopefully they'll just pay for it (I used my insurance card). Otherwise, looks like I'll be paying in cash!

Went to the ER, got a CT scan, here are the results:

" Preliminary Results: No acute intra-cranial pathology. The posterior fossa demonstrates a midline CHF density located along the cerebellar vermis, consistent with small arachnoid cyst. No skull fractures. Clear paranasal sinuses and mastoids."

The cyst got me spooked for a moment but the ER doc. assured me that it was harmless and actually quite common in that area.

Looks like I'll be ok health-wise. Financially? We'll see!

Greg Battaglia · 03-02-2008, 09:25 PM

P.S.

Dr. G,
My aunt is actually certified in cranial sacral therapy (she's an RN). She's really into natural health and beat breast cancer without conventional therapies quite few years back. I'll have a talk with her. Thanks for the tip!

Garrett Smith · 03-03-2008, 07:20 AM

Greg,
That was smart of you to go to the ER. Better to know that everything is okay and be a little lighter in the pocket, than to be dead with your cash.

At least you can save money on the cranial sacral therapy!

Mike ODonnell · 03-03-2008, 07:47 AM

Don't worry about expenses....it's just pieces of paper after all....better to live and have to pay off a bill....than be dead with money in the bank. Plus you would of been stressing out with every headache for the next 3 months and that alone would of caused you health issues.