Temporarily limited activities - any suggestions?

[Storm Bride]

DS1 is coming home today. He was away snowboarding with friends for a few days. Unfortunately, he had a bad wipe-out yesterday, and has a concussion. (He was, thankfully, wearing a helmet - hate to think how bad it would be if he hadn't been!) The doctor has told him no heavy activity for a week. This precludes all the gymnastics/acrobatics type things he keeps himself entertained with, as well has roughhousing with his younger siblings. He's also banned from tv, videogames, and reading. So...what's he supposed to do for a week? Any thoughts?

[Linda on the move]

Books on tape? Building a model plane? Cooking?

Either of my kids would have a hard time with those limits for a whole week.

[Storm Bride]

Books on tape are a thought. I guess he can also listen to music. I don't know about sketching (which he loves). He might enjoy a model, but I have to think that if reading is too taxing for him right now, then following a model diagram will be, as well.

This is just awful. He's going to go nuts, and I think I may go with him. I'm grateful it wasn't worse, though. He was wearing his helmet, and it's a minor concussion, but the restrictions are tough.

[34me]

photography was my first thought.  Might get some interesting perspective.

I'm glad they are taking it so seriously.  When my ds got one he had no restrictions, even though he was throwing up and sleepy.  Mama knew better though...

[TiredX2]

Is his banning from tv, videogames & reading an unrelated punishment or is it for medical reasons?  If it is something with eye concentration, I'm afraid photography might be out too.

Board games?

Good luck, I'm glad he's okay!

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by TiredX2 

Is his banning from tv, videogames & reading an unrelated punishment or is it for medical reasons?  If it is something with eye concentration, I'm afraid photography might be out too.

Board games?

Good luck, I'm glad he's okay!

It's medical. From the reading I was doing, it looks as though older guidelines said those activities were okay, unless they aggravated symptoms, but current guidelines are to completely ban them for a week.

He apparently had short-term memory loss when it happened. I knew he had no memory of the fall itself, but he was also forgetting conversations that happened during the first couple of hours afterwards. The accident was two days ago, and he's doing well now, except that he's really, really bored, and has an intermittent headache. I'm hoping his symptoms disappear soon, but he's mostly back to normal. At least his memory and cognitive abilities seem normal.

The poor kid got a Sega Genesis and a laptop at Christmas  (the laptop was actually a belated grad gift, and he got it on Boxing Day). Then, he left on the 27th (actually spent the night at his girlfriend's on the 26th, and left from there), and came back under the restrictions. So, he's had about an hour on the Genesis, and basically hasn't used the laptop at all  They're probably his two all time favourite Christmas presents - certainly the biggest, in terms of cost - and he can't use them.

ETA: I can't even begin to imagine what he'd have to do for me to ban him from reading...

Edited by Storm Bride - 12/31/11 at 6:33pm

[CarrieMF]

Did the doctor restrict those activities or are you restricting them based on what you read?

My dd had a mild concussion this summer. She was not allowed to participate in activities where she may reinjure the brain for a month. She was not told no reading, video games, no computer, etc. 

The first week she spent quite a bit of time sleeping and sitting.   She is very paranoid about concussions and didn't want to move. 

Are any if his friends around if he us up to visitors?

[TiredX2]

If he can't watch tv or play board games, I'd be worried about *anything* at that point.  I mean, I use a lot more focus to do crafts than to watch tv.  I'm assuming those are just common things that are an issue?  I really have no ideas besides just sitting (books on tape) and visiting with people if he can't move or do anything.  Poor guy!

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by CarrieMF 

Did the doctor restrict those activities or are you restricting them based on what you read?

My dd had a mild concussion this summer. She was not allowed to participate in activities where she may reinjure the brain for a month. She was not told no reading, video games, no computer, etc.

The doctor restricted them. It wouldn't have even crossed my mind to limit those things, as i have no experience with concussions. I only found the guidelines after a fair bit of Googling, actively looking for them. They seem to be quite recent. He saw the doctor at the ski resort he was staying at, and I'd expect the doctors there to be quite up to date on concussions, as I'm sure they see a lot of them!

The first week she spent quite a bit of time sleeping and sitting.   She is very paranoid about concussions and didn't want to move. 

DS1 slept about 12 hours the night before last. He's doing okay - just very bored, and a bit upset about missing three shifts at work. He could use the money, as he's on break from school, and can't work as many shifts while he's attending classes.

Are any if his friends around if he us up to visitors?

His girlfriend came by yesterday, and he went to a New Year's Eve party last night. His girlfriend was with him, which is a relief - she won't let him get carried away and try to do handstands or acrobatics (he's known for this kind of thing at social gatherings), or play the available video games. The week it slipping by, and he's surviving, but it's not the most exciting way to spend his break. His siblings don't like being banned from climbing on him, either. I may rope him into helping with dinner tonight. If he's just following my verbal directions, chopping and stirring should be well within his guidelines!

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by TiredX2 

If he can't watch tv or play board games, I'd be worried about *anything* at that point.  I mean, I use a lot more focus to do crafts than to watch tv.  I'm assuming those are just common things that are an issue?  I really have no ideas besides just sitting (books on tape) and visiting with people if he can't move or do anything.  Poor guy!

That was my thought. The idea is to avoid anything that requires cognitive effort, pretty much - and that's almost everything! He's basically been told not to use his body or his brain, if he can possibly avoid doing so, for an entire week!

[Peony]

OMG. I have no real suggestions but I'm trying to imagine what the heck i would do with my DD1 who sounds exactly like your DS1 if we had all those restrictions. I hope you have plenty of whatever your "drug" of choice is on hand. 

This isn't medical advice but I'm wondering about easing up on a restriction or two. I'll just randomly pick mindless TV watching since it would probably involve less concentration anything else. While avoiding all those things are ideal, I'm guessing that the likelihood of a teenage boy sitting there doing absolutely nothing for a week is going to start rapidly decreasing by the day. If one activity is allowed then maybe he would be more likely to respect the physical restrictions. Just throwing something out there.... Best of luck to you!

[zebra15]

I would have him checked out by his own dr and honestly go from there.  The ski resort could be erring on the side of caution, way on the side of caution.  There is limited activity then there is no activity.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

I would have him checked out by his own dr and honestly go from there.  The ski resort could be erring on the side of caution, way on the side of caution.  There is limited activity then there is no activity.

We can't get him into the doctor until Tuesday, at the earliest, because of the New Year's holidays. I'm hoping to get him in that day. By then, five of his seven days will have gone by, anyway.

I let him watch a movie with us tonight, since he said he'd stop watching if he got a headache or anything. He's drawing now. I suspect he'll be in bed again soon...

But, I did dig around a little on Google, and it looks as though these restrictions are the current recommended guidelines for recovering from a concussion. I think the ski resort is just following a new protocol.

[MariaMadly]

Would he like working with clay, or something else tactile?  Like kneading bread dough if you've got him helping in the kitchen already?

Hope he feels better soon!

[Storm Bride]

He's sketching quite a bit. I'm not really sure if he should be or not, but it's not aggravating his symptoms.

He's managed to stay pretty upbeat, but he's definitely been kind of bored. I wish I'd thought about clay or something like that. He enjoys that kind of stuff, but we don't really have any in the house right now.

[MariaMadly]

http://www.playdoughrecipe.com/no-tarter-playdough-recipe/

[laohaire]

It sounds like if he must avoid cognitive or physical activity, boredom is absolutely inevitable.

I think the least cognitive activity that could keep the average person from going crazy for a week would be watching certain types of mindless television or movies. Like romantic comedies. Which are so formulatic that you aren't even trying to guess the outcome. Or maybe music videos, but I don't know if they exist anymore (no TV programming here). Or maybe best of all, movies he's already seen before.

[Storm Bride]

That was what he watched with us last night - a movie he'd already seen. I think some music videos might be hard on his brain, because of the weird effects the lighting and such can have.

He loaded up his "new" iPod (second hand from a friend) with music today, and has been listening to it a lot. He's getting there, though. Socializing is helping a lot - I'm glad he has a lot of friends.

[ollyoxenfree]

This is late, but I just wanted to say that I hope he's fully recovered and symptom-free soon.