Concussion Woes

I don't think I've been through a more bipolar time in my life.  Having a concussion, I had to relax all the time and couldn't really do anything, which was a nice change; however, at the same time I knew I was falling behind and became increasingly stressed.  It's been 2 months since I've been in school for a full day, taken a test, or written an essay.  Taking 4 AP's definitely didn't help, considering the workload is already stressful without a concussion.

Teachers have been reacting differently to my situation: some understand, some don't as much. I've been warned about failing the class, not graduating, etc. This increased the stress I already had about falling behind - I hadn't even thought that teachers would consider something that was out of my control a cause for failure.  I understand that I'm falling behind, but it isn't my choice to go home early, to not do homework, to sleep for 12-16 hours each day.

Now that I can go back and start catching up, I'm both anxious and excited for teachers' responses.  I know some will be glad that I can start doing work again and get caught up, but I know others will give me all my work to be due at once, not even considering that I've also been missing 5 other classes.

I don't even know what chapter we're on in Statistics, or what labs we're doing in Physics; I've missed due dates for this blog and the discussions; Calculus I had no chance in before my concussion; Nutrition Concepts is a textbook (that I haven't opened in 2 months) to remember for 1 test; I have 6 or 7 (or 8) essays due for Lit; I haven't done any work for Gov, my only class based primarily on memorization.

Our culture's handling of concussions has changed significantly over the past 10-15 years, even the past 5 years.  The baseline tests that every athlete must take is a prime example of our need for control over concussions.  Though it's great that we've come to know so much about concussions over the past few years, this knowledge shouldn't only be kept among athletes and doctors, but should be shared with everyone.  My boss, an ex-gymnast, didn't even understand why I haven't been able to spot.  The severity of concussions and necessity of slow care and recovery should be common knowledge, not Snooki's baby's name or Mitt Romney's worth.