Calista Susa
Concussions/Brain Injuries: 1
Cause: Other
Calista’s Story
April 7th, 2015 I suffered my severe traumatic brain injury. I was in my sophomore year of high school and I was found unresponsive one morning before school. After being brought to the ER and after having a CT scan done, they found out that I had bleeding on the brain. I was then brought down to Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis to get an MRI and lab tests to rule anything else out before doing surgery. The doctors successfully moved a racket ball size hemorrhage from the center of my brain. Within 7-10 days of my initial surgery I had surgery again to put in a VP shunt to get rid of the excess cerebral spinal fluid in my brain and to control the pressure. In total I was in the hospital for 18 days and didn’t return back to school at all that year.
A few months later in August, I was still having head pressures and my shunt was turned all the way up to 200, so my neuro team and I decided to get it removed. Surgery went well with removing it, but my pain levels were through the roof. After being evaluated for a week with no end to the pain, it was decided that I need it more than we thought so I got it put back in. Within four months I went through four surgeries. — What has gotten me to start this account (@calistasusa) and share is due to the fact that all this time I have learned to cover up and hide what I lived through, but that shouldn’t be the case. I am not at all ashamed of any of it if anything it’s my proudest accomplishment.
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Concussion Connect has provided me a space to learn more about what is going on inside my brain and body, find the words to express how I am feeling, not feel so alone, and learn about and use different resources! It provides a sense of being understood that has been missing since my accident, even brings a sense of understanding myself. - CC Member
