Hi, I'm Kelsey Hoffman and I have had a concussion for 29 weeks. It will be 7 months on the 4th of April. Do I enjoy it? No, not particularly. Do I appreciate when people ask me how it is going? Yes, of course. Does it annoy me when people say, "You still have a concussion?" I'm not going to lie, it does a little bit. It is just the way the question is articulated sometimes. It is not my fault that I still have this daily struggle. I cannot control my head nor my symptoms. It is a discouraging reminder that I might not be able to compete competitively in athletics ever again. It reminds me that I still have a lingering problem that I cannot seem to get rid of.

The doctors tell me that I could have daily headaches for the rest of my life. I took all the precautions and followed all the rules and it still didn't help. I sat in dark rooms, stayed off my phone, and went on the computer for 15 minutes at a time. I took my medication and drank tons of water. In the beginning I didn't work out and I stayed away from driving at night due to bright lights and I never stood next to speakers at the soccer games because the music was too loud. I wore sunglasses and a hat everywhere to protect me from the light. I got a lot of weird looks because I was sensitive to light for the first few months.

My phone is always on a very low brightness as well as my laptop. Sometimes, even now, I find that I need to wear sunglasses inside because of the lights. In my room I keep on the lamp and do not enjoy turing on the florescent lights and sometimes I even just sit in the dark. I take every opportunity to try and make the days better, but sometimes it does not matter. I lost consciousness I had major headaches and other crazy symptoms for many months. I didn't expect it to get better in a week.

Yes, having a concussion for 7 months is crazy for some people to understand. The head is such a complex part of the body there is still so much that doctor's do not know. My neurologist can only help me with trying out different medication to hopefully manage my symptoms. I have to be patient with it and not rush into doing a lot when I have a good day, it only makes the next worse. I may have these symptoms for the rest of my life, we do not have a timeline there are so many unanswered questions. With each passing day I lose hope of playing soccer for my senior year of college, I lose hope that I will ever be able to run again without problems. I am trying not to give up hope, but it is difficult when time is passing by and I am still stuck.

So yes, I STILL have a concussion. Just be mindful of how you word things and react, it might just be hurting someone and you didn't even know.