Inside the doctor’s office, Shaena sat on the exam table as Dr. Lee looked her over. The doctor had agreed to stay late, so Shaena and her mom had gone straight from the school to the clinic.
“And then her elbow just sort of hit the side of my head,” Shaena finished explaining.
“Did you see stars or spots of light in front of your eyes?” asked Dr. Lee. She shined a tiny flashlight into Shaena’s eyes as she asked questions.
“Yeah,” admitted Shaena. The light was doing nothing for her headache. “But only for a second.”
“I see,” said Dr. Lee. “Do you have a headache now? Do you feel sick to your stomach?”
The sick feeling in Shaena’s stomach had faded, so she replied honestly, “Nope. Not anymore.”
“But you did feel sick, and you still have a headache?” Dr. Lee pressed.
Shaena looked away. “Yeah,” she said quietly.
Dr. Lee put the flashlight down. “Shaena, I’m afraid you have a minor concussion,” she said. Shaena started to protest, but the doctor held up a hand. “It might not have seemed like a big hit, but concussions can happen from small hits too.”
The doctor went over to her computer and printed something out. She grabbed the papers and handed them to Shaena.
“Those printouts have info on concussions — what it is, symptoms, and so on,” Dr. Lee explained. “But basically a concussion is a bruise on your brain that happens when you hit your head. There’s a little bit of room between the brain and the skull. A hard hit can cause the brain to move and bump against the skull, which causes the bruise.”
Shaena frowned as she glanced at the papers. How could a tiny hit make my brain move? she wondered.
“One of the first things that happens when you get a concussion is you see little spots of light in front of your eyes,” continued Dr. Lee. “Then you’ll have a headache. Sometimes people feel like they might throw up. Some people get confused. Other people black out completely.”
Shaena sighed impatiently. “Okay, but I don’t feel sick, I didn’t black out, and I’m not confused.”
Dr. Lee gave a sympathetic smile. “You don’t have a major concussion, so you only have a few of the symptoms. But you’re still injured. You’ll need to follow my instructions if you don’t want to be out of basketball any longer than you already need to be.”
Out of basketball? Shaena’s jaw dropped. “What? You can’t be serious.”
“Shaena,” her mom warned. “Listen to Dr. Lee.”
Shaena closed her mouth and waited for the doctor to continue.
“You’ll likely have a headache for a few days,” Dr. Lee said. “Because of that, you might have some trouble concentrating in school. So I want you to rest this weekend — no computer or TV, okay?”
“Okay,” replied Shaena, trying to hold back tears. Those instructions felt like a prison sentence!
“I’ll also write a note to keep you out of gym class — and basketball — for all of next week,” finished Dr. Lee.
“A week?” Shaena exclaimed. “A whole week?”
“At least a week,” corrected Dr. Lee. “And that’s if you follow all of my instructions.”
“But I can’t miss basketball for a whole week!” insisted Shaena. She couldn’t stop the tears from falling now. How could she be out for that long? It was just a little bump on the head!
“I know this is upsetting,” said Dr. Lee. “But I can’t budge on this — this is your brain we’re talking about. Come and see me a week from today, and I’ll see how you’re doing then.”
“Thank you, Dr. Lee,” said Shaena’s mom. “We appreciate you staying late to see us.”
Dr. Lee nodded. “Any time.”
Feeling numb, Shaena silently walked out of the clinic with her mom. Once they were in the car and buckled up, she turned to her mom.
“Maybe we should get a second opinion or something,” Shaena suggested.
Mom shook her head. “Sorry, honey,” she said. “I know this is tough.”
Shaena sighed and looked out the car window. She felt a buzz in her backpack. It was a text from Marisol: Did u go to the dr? R u ok?
Tears welled up in Shaena’s eyes again. There were a couple of text messages from her other teammates, but Shaena just shut off her phone, put it back into her backpack, and closed her eyes.