Long story short, 2 weeks ago I was helping a friend do some home repairs when I was stepping off the ladder a 5 gallon bucket caught my foot and literally flipped me on my shoulder and neck. It hurt, my thumb and right arm went numb and tingly. I got my shit together and drove home.
The next day went I to the dr. they did X-rays gave me steroids, muscle relaxers, and anti inflammatories. The dr said I had a stinger or pinched nerve in my shoulder and slammed my rotator cuff. I took a week off from work and went back the following to work per the doctors orders, things just didn't feel right and I was favoring my right side bad.
I went to the specialist yesterday and I have a fractured c-6 vertebra with c-5 compression and a bone fragment lodged in my c-6, had to get a emergency MRI awaiting to hear back from doctors. What should I expect from anyone who has had to deal with this or similar situations. Recovery time? Surgery? I'm 32 and never had anything this serious happen. 
At the least the broken vertebrae causes just numbness. At the worse you move wrong and all of sudden your wheelchair bound for life.