Upper back (cervical) back is out. Family gone for a week!

This isn't a back sprain, I think it's more serious.

So, here I am in bed. I've got a week off alone after four years of family life without such a break.

I had other plans besides lying in bed feeling pain, but here I am in bed. Seems my cervical discs, the ones right above my shoulders, messed up and either a bone spur, and/or a herniated disc, something, is causing terrible pain under my shoulder blade, elbow, along the top of my forearm, sometimes to my pointer finger. 

I've seen the doc again, after  I had an x-ray. I've been moved off pain killers to and to oral Pregnisone (info). It seems to tell the immune system not to swell hurt parts of the body. Due to my forearm pain, doc and I are concerned this is a disc issue, not a sprain. The Pregnisone on a "staged" dose, a progressive smaller and smaller does for 12 days. It's toxic stuff.

Here goes the first dose.