Finally, after spending so much time on the ice, paramedics strapped her to a stretcher, loaded her into an ambulance, and transported her to the James Paton Memorial Regional Health Centre in Gander.
She remembers the ambulance ride, arriving at the hospital, and being put in a bed.
However, that’s as far back as her memory goes.
“They shined a light in my eyes, asked me some questions, and hooked me up to an oxygen machine,” said Hiscock of the ambulance ride from Glovertown to Gander. “They took me off the ambulance, took me in the hospital, and took my hockey gear off. They put me in a bed, and pressed on my neck to see if there was any pain, and that’s all I remember.”
The doctor told the family that Abigail would have to stop playing sports for a week, but the family told her she would have to refrain from physical activity for much longer than that.
Daily headaches
As of last week, Abigail was slowly feeling like her old self, but she’s still suffering from one major side effect — daily headaches.
San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan suffered a concussion on Feb. 26, after taking an inadvertent stick to the head from Minnesota Wild’s Mario Scandella.
Since then, McLellan has also suffered from daily headaches.
Like the NHL bench boss, Abigail’s headaches arrive around the same time every day.
“I get headaches everyday,” said Abigail.
“And she spends a lot of time in bed,” added Terri Lynn.
“I get a headache around 2 p.m. everyday. It’s a pain that shoots right across my forehead,” said Abigail. “It lasts for 10-15 minutes. When it happens, my teachers let me leave the classroom to relax for a little bit.”
Today, Terri Lynn has a list of things she has to keep an eye out for, such as vomiting and dizziness.
Abigail, whose concussion has kept her from participating in softball-themed Phys-Ed classes at Glovertown Academy, runs on the spot for roughly 10 minutes a day. When she can do that without getting dizzy or suffer from a headache, she’ll know she’s on the path to being symptom free.
The doctor told the family that Abigail suffered a minor concussion, but if it happens again, she may be finished with sports altogether.
However, Abigail vowed to not let the injury change the way she approaches the game, and she’ll gladly talk about the injury so others will get a better understanding of what it’s like to live with such an injury.
She’s also thankful to her teammates, who did everything but sit next to her in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
“Her teammates wanted her to go on the bench, but she knew she couldn’t,” said Terri Lynn. “She even pleaded and cried to the doctor, and said she had to be there for her team. It was hard for her.”
“My friend, Hailey Wade, took my stick and used it the rest of the tournament. She’s an amazing friend,” said Abigail.
“The goalie, Josh Granter, wanted to rush to the hospital after the game to see her, to see if she was okay. In the second intermission of that game, her teammates chanted her name before they went on the ice in the third period,” added Terri Lynn. “They said they had to win the game for her, and they did.”
The Beacon
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