Josh Meets Surfboard Head On...And Sees Stars!

An early morning wave carried upside-down Tyler (riding Eric's surfboard) into the side of Joshua’s head. The impact was so forceful it not only caused Josh a concussion, loss of consciousness, hole in the head and an awful headache but also broke the tip of the surfboard! Here’s the scoop as told by me, Josh’s mom:

“I was at a friend's home early in the am for a garage sale when she told me that Josh called and said, “call me, its serious”. I guess I didn’t hear my phone. He had gone surfing EARLY. I called him and he said, “I need stitches.” To which I replied, “Wait! Let me sit down”. He told me what happened, said he lost consciousness a couple times and couldn’t open or close his mouth all the way, it hurt. Good thing he went with 3 friends who helped him. He told me, “All I thought about was ‘don’t let go of the board.’ “

“In the ER (they recognized me as I work at the hosp) when the nurse was triaging him and cleaning up the wound (painful) he had a vasovagal response (which he is prone to do) and I watched him start to fade away. I know this because I know Josh and his responses (he’s done it a few times with me). I said, “Josh. Josh!” He aroused a bit but he said “I can’t feel my legs...my arms and hands are tingly.” At that point, haste was made to put him on a gurney (he had been sitting) with a cervical collar and there was talk about transferring to a trauma unit. He could move everything but as he was lying there, he said he couldn’t breathe, that unless he thought about it, he didn’t breathe. Geeze.

“After taking a few deep breaths...and thinking instead of feeling...I pointed out to the nurse that Josh has a history of “vaso-vagaling” and that with the combo of head injury, shock and pain, this could be his response. She agreed. I hafta tell ya, I got a bit choked up at that point but kept it together for Josh’s sake. I mean, who really believes anything REALLY bad or life-changing is actually happening to you or yours?!?! (Susan {friend, ksf}, I know you can relate.) He got a bit emotional, as well, but I knew he wasn’t gonna show it. I just wiped a bit of a tear from his eyelash with the sheet and we both sucked it up, I guess.

He “came around” within a few minutes, numbness subsided, tingling abated and color majorly improved (its amazing how pale a tanned person can get), started to get irritable (naturally). His head was raised a bit and he breathed easier. Got CTs of his head and jaw which showed no fractures, no cervical spine injury. PTL. So a concussion. Got 6 staples in his head. Still has a headache. It’s not going to be a fun night because he’s going to want to sleep. Oh, and go to a friends grad party. Oh well. We'll see.

Vaso-Vagal Response

Intense pain, (such as what Josh felt), may cause a temporary, exaggerated vasovagal response by your autonomic nervous system. As a result, your heart rate and blood pressure drop, which reduces blood flow to your brain. This results in a feeling of warmth, lightheadedness, dimming of vision and hearing, and even fainting (vasovagal syncope).

Typical triggers for vasovagal syncope include:
prolonged standing or upright sitting
stress
any painful or unpleasant stimuli, such as giving blood, injuries, the sight of blood...