Shoulder injury

I dropped back in my safety position on the opening drive of my Sunday game of flag football. The ball came flying over my head. I turned and sprinted. When I saw the receiver go up I jumped with him and reached for the ball. I tipped it to a teammate who took the interception and ran it all the way back for a touchdown.

However, it was only on the next drive I found out we had scored. As the receiver and I came crashing down to the ground, I landed squarely on my left shoulder. I immediately felt intense, swelling pain. And there it is, I thought. I'm out. But not so fast. I waited out the next series and climbed back into the game. I played with a bum left shoulder the rest of the afternoon, even caught a touchdown and passed for three more.

After the game I iced the shoulder, heated it and nursed it until today. Friday. The pain had not subsided, so I went onto webmd.com to look up shoulder injuries. I found the definition of a shoulder separation:

"The shoulder separation, or acromioclavicular (AC) dislocation, is an injury to the junction between the collarbone and the shoulder. It is usually a soft-tissue or ligament injury but may include a fracture (broken bone)."

These are some of the symptoms:

"- You usually feel pain to the top of the shoulder. Often, it is most comfortable to support your affected arm with the opposite hand.
- Swelling, cuts, or bruises may be present on the top of the shoulder.
- An obvious upward pointing lump on the top of the shoulder is seen in more serious separations. This is the end of the displaced collarbone (the clavicle bone) and it moves up if the affected arm is pulled toward the ground.
- Tenderness is felt at the junction, or joint, between the collarbone and shoulder. This is the site of the AC (acromioclavicular) joint."

After 10 years of youth and competitive soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey, and then eight more years of pick-up play, I finally have a major sports injury. The picture is likely what my should looks like. There is big ole lump on the top of my left shoulder. OK, I'm headed to the doctor's office now.