I hate it when I immediately forget a person’s name right after asking them. However, I am always aware though that I did ask the question. To not realize that I had inquired as to the person’s name, now that would be truly disconcerting. I gave my son Charles reason for concern last Sunday afternoon when I suffered my first concussion. We were on a bike ride along the Columbia River here in Wenatchee, WA, when a low front tire resulted in headfirst slide along the asphalt trail. Charles assisted me to a large flat rock at the trail’s edge where I asked a couple of questions for what would be just the first of many times.

One question can be traced back to just before our ride when we viewed the end of the Giants – Diamondbacks game. San Francisco eked out a 2-1 victory with a game ending double play that required a “Replay Review” to overturn the safe call at first base. (To be honest I’m not a big fan of the whole replay thing. I can live with human error, but that’s a topic for another day). The favorable ruling meant the game was over and Arizona did not score the tying run. All was good, and I set off a happy cyclist with the Giants having won their fifth straight game.

A quick look down at my tires told me they were low but I decided this could wait. That was a bad decision. I can’t say for sure what happened but I do know that the inside of my bike helmet has a couple of cracks in that hard foam material. I also picked up some serious road rash and I began to repeatedly ask Charles a couple of questions: Did the Giants win? and How is my helmet?

I’m not sure exactly what the nature of my questioning says, except that Charles knew that this was probably not an ordinary fall. A car trip to the walk in clinic, an ambulance ride to the emergency room and visit with the doctor, confirmed that I indeed had a concussion. A subsequent CT scan revealed nothing more serious. While waiting in ER with Charles and my wife Brenda, I asked about my helmet for about the twelfth time. Finally, I became sufficiently aware to refrain from this line of questioning. This was about three hours after the event. For some reason I had been able to catalog the Giants victory as settled business after only asking that question about six times. Maybe replay review really is a good thing! Now what was that Doctor’s name?