Shoulder separation - Not recommended

I was playing ice hockey the other night and all was well. There were two minutes remaining in the game. We were winning 6 - 2. Then it happened.

I was heading into the boards to poke a puck around. It was just me and one of the fellows from the other team. Neither of us was going all that fast considering a deficit of 6 - 2 is not easily changed in 2 minutes. Sadly, our feet got tangled and I went shoulder-first in to the wall.

Now I've been checked full force before and everything was dandy, but a little harmless fall at like 5mph and CRUNCH. Yes, I heard an audible crunching sound. Oddly, it didn't hurt at all...for like three whole seconds. For those three seconds I was having thoughts like, "Well, a crunching sound can't be good" and "Maybe it's like when the chiropractor adjusts your spine?". Turns out that the first thought was the correct one. When the three seconds of interested-third-party thoughts concluded, the in-the-moment me returned to find a searingly horrific pain like few others I've felt over the years.

I sat on the bench for the remainder of the game carefully holding my arm in place. It was less than fun. After getting back to the locker room my teammates helped me get everything together, and one of them did a makeshift sling (impressive, actually), and then I called my wife since I was in no condition to drive.

We got to the Emergency Room and waited a while (something I'm sure will get better now that we have universal healthcare coming...) before they did x-rays and such. At first they couldn't find anything wrong. Then they tried a different angle. I believe I heard an "oh...hmmmm...that's not good." I asked what was up and was told the doctor would see me.

The doctor showed up sometime later. She told me I had a fractured clavicle and likely a torn AC joint. I asked what this meant for my hockey playing days. "You'll be out 6-8 months," she said. "Blehgang?!?" I replied, or something akin to that.

The following day I was able to get to a specialist (again, we're still not at that full-on universal healthcare stage here so getting an appointment is still possible). He went over my x-rays, did a few tests on my shoulder and said that the people at the ER jumped the gun a bit. He said that there is no fracture and that both my joints are intact. "You have a grade-one separation," he said. "Am I out 6-8 months, doc?" I asked, hopeful as ever. "No, probably 2-3 weeks."

At first I was elated, then I thought "2-3 weeks???" and said, "Blehgang?!?" again. It just seemed fitting. He explained that I needed to use the arm and that it's basically going to hurt like hell. He's right about that. It does. Fortunately, I have little happy pills to help with the pain. Unfortunately, I don't like taking meds so I'm avoiding them as much as possible.

So now I'm doing stretches and such in order to work myself back to being able to play again in the next 3 weeks.

I'm just glad I'm able to type fully again.