Thanks guys, and extra thanks to Knight9.
The muscle spasms, which lasted almost a week, were the worst part of it, as they caused 95% of the pain. Remember stories of Paul Dillet locking up back stage stiff as a board from diuretic use and screaming--that was me--at one point for about 6 hours before the ambulance arrived and jammed bunch of muscle relaxers in my back via injection (was home alone and it took 6 hours to crawl across the floor to the phone 2 rooms away). My entire back was blue and purple for almost a week due to the bruising, as a result of the super intense, non-stop muscle contractions.
The spasms didn't completely go away after this, but persisted for about a week at a set intensity level--enough to keep me in bed almost the entire time. At random intervals, maybe once every 30-60 minutes, they would lock up completely, as I just described above. During those moments it is absolute the worst pain I have ever felt. It's so damn agonizing you can't even yell while it's happening. It's only after it lets up a little bit that you can yell out.
My back is still in a constant state of contraction (mostly lower back), but it is much less intense now and the pain has subsided greatly. I had my wife go out and buy me a laptop so I could work from bed. I can get around on crutches most of the time now.
The real shitty part, as some of you guys know, is that I am a recovering addict (almost 10 years now) and take 24-32 mg of buprenorphine a day. this is a large dose--capable of keeping withdrawal symptoms away from someone shooting a gram of hydrocodone/heroin daily (=100-200 Vicodin). The point here is that no prescription pain killers will work for me. I would need to be prescribed about 2 grams of morphine daily to experience decent pain relief, but no doctor would ever prescribe that no matter what, as that kind of dose is literally 100's of times higher than what they are normally used to prescribing. So, I had to deal with the pain 100%, as the buprenorphine no longer does anything for me other than make me feel normal.
Anyway, 2 broken vertebrae. 6-8 week recovery time.
Oh, and while I was having that terrible 6 hour long spasm, the cops came in with the paramedics because I called 911. This is standard when entering someone's home. The cops saw a bag full of 100's of Xanax on the dresser that I hadn't used in 6 years (don't like the stuff). They asked me why I had it--while I am in excruciating agony and can barely speak--so I told them I had it for 5-6 years and was expired, but took a few the last day to try and help the spasm. When I got back home the next day the bag was fucking gone--cops snatched it for themselves. When I thought about it after, I remembered the cops staying back in my room after the paramedics were taking me downstairs and wondering what in the hell they were still in my room for, but I didn't think much about it until I got home and saw the bag was gone. .