Last June I crashed my bike and received a massive head injury while wearing a helmet. It was my only injury. When a brain is bleeding, it takes time for the symptoms to show up. A head injury is one that evolves from minor to serious at a pace that is determined by the rate of the bleed.

I have no memory of this, so take it for what its worth...

At the scene, I tried to get my OWN bike out of the ditch as Mike wouldn't help me. Then I demanded that he let me ride pillion on his bike since mine was stuck in the ditch. When the ambulance arrived I was still insisting I was fine and didn't need help. Before the ambulance arrived I was unable to walk and had to be held down as I kept falling every time I tried to walk. By the time the ambulance arrived my speech was slurred and I was repeating myself in short time intervals, but was coherent enough to answer questions like... birth date?, who's the president?, where are you? why are you here? who is your husband? etc....

To anyone that has ever seen a serious head injury I was a text book case of one evolving and needed immediate medical care. To me, I was being pestered and just wanted to be left alone so that I could go ride my bike (or anyone else's for that matter!)

It turns out that while I did indeed refuse care at the scene and was prepared to sign the paperwork stating that, my spouse has the right to overrule my refusal. Thankfully he did. Reason 1 billion and 6 as to why I love that man. Its possible that I could have died within hours without hospital care.

Friends do NOT have that right, parents of children over 18 do NOT have that right, only a spouse or a parent to a minor can over rule the patients decision to refuse care. You MUST convince a friend that you think has a head injury to seek medical help.

A major problem with head injuries is that they impair judgment. If you injure the right part of your brain you are actually prone to extreme belligerence with a classic symptom of trying to punch out your medical staff!! (I know of an ER nurse that injured that part of his brain in a bicycle accident and punched out 2 of his colleagues when he was brought into his OWN emergency room!)

Head injuries are a common problem with crashed motorcycles, please, please, please... learn the symptoms of a head injury and look for them in any fallen friend. Be ready to be the "bad guy" but get them the help they need. They will thank you later, honest.

I can only imagine the heart break I put on my husband as he watched me A: crash a bike and get hurt and B: get forced into and tied down in an ambulance I was demanding I didn't need. I am sure he felt like the biggest jerk on the planet right up until he saw the results of the cat scan that resulted in... "get her in a helicopter and get her to Strong Memorial Hospital we can't deal with that here!"

I am begging all of you: be the jerk. Know the symptoms of a head injury and be the jerk. I am alive because Mike stood up to me.