Samantha Transcript

V: Hi Dr. Vanessa here and I have Samantha who is going to speak about her experience with what happened to her and her concussion.

S: Hello.

V: Hello. So tell me what happened.

S: So in 1972, I was hit on the highway in a head-on accident throwing from a senator divide left to the margin, on the side of the shoulder face down. So, anyway, I was out.

V: So you lost consciousness?

S: Oh, yeah. So the ambulance came. They took me to David Grant, because my father was in the Navy, retired anyway. So I was there for a month. And my parents were out of town, so they couldn’t do any surgery on me. My head was so enlarged, they were gonna do surgery to relieve the pressure. And my parents weren’t around to give me any consent or anything. So anyway, remember I was 19, 20, somewhere around there.

V: Okay. So young adult age. 

S: So, anyway, I stayed at David Grant for a month. I had many broken bones on the right arm, torn everything, loosened my knee, and tore the seatbelt right off. So the impact is great because he had a big heavy duty station wagon and jumped the oleanders as before they had any, you know, safety things. It was a big car, and it was just a mess. Anyway, I stayed at David Grant for a month. Then only because my parents lived so close, that they let me come home because they were doing lots of physical therapy. And so anyway, I recouped at home for quite a while. So forget the college now. I’m already out of college. You know what I mean? I just couldn’t return.

V: So then before the accident you were enrolled in college? 

S: Yeah, I was going to be a nutritionist. Anyway, so I did all my stuff at Solano and transferred to Sac State and was doing upper division. Anyway, after a month in the hospital, I decided that I wanted to go into the medical field. And my father was also a medic in the Navy Hospital Corpsman. Anyway, so I enrolled in school.

V: Okay, this is your MA school? 

S: My MA school, so I enrolled in this school.

V: And timeline wise, how long was that you had to withdraw from school and then you stayed home and you recovered? How long was that until you were able to feel comfortable getting into this program? If you can estimate…

S: Eight or nine months.

V: And during that time, what kind of symptoms were you having? Were you tired like fatigue issues or cognitive like brain fog?

S: Yeah, I was trying to recoup from all the breaks and casts, you know. So anyway, when I was able, I went to the Bryman School, so I checked in there and it was much longer. You know, I just could cognitively take, I couldn’t retain anything or remember, you know. I dropped out. They gave me a thing to drop out. So then I went home. And you know, it was quite a bit later, because I remember my parents had to pay for my apartment up there. So I remember it was quite a few months that I was back home. And then I started up again. And it was just very difficult, yeah, the concentration, that was terrible.

V: Did you have any vision problems with it, like looking at a book or writing anything like that? 

S: No, I didn’t have any of that. 

V: It was more just the cognitive trying to retain information?

S: Yeah. Okay. So, anyway, I had to drop out again, because I wasn’t doing well. I finally went back into the private school and finished my program. So that was awesome. And then I was hired here in Vacaville and did really well. It was a great career.

V: And you know, you told me earlier, Samantha, that it took maybe about a year for you to  recover where you felt comfortable to return back to school. 

S: Yeah. It was quite a while. 

V: Anyway. You think that kind of sums up your concussion experience there? 

S: Yes. Yes. 

V: Well, thank you for sharing.