severe piched nerve in shoulder blade

I have had a pinched nerve along my upper spine between the spine and under the right shoulder blade for the past 7 days. Day 1 and 2 were an excrutiating nightmare, pain was unreal, brought me to sobbing tears as if I had been shot or impaled. Went to the chiropractor who confirmed the pinched nerve, did some adjustments that reduced the pain from horrific to seriously uncomfortable. I have constant stabbing pain down my right arm with tingling, swelling of the arm/hand, and occasional numbness. Went to a medical doctor yesterday who got me an immediate MRI because he suspected a herniated cervical disc. No MRI results yet until Monday, but the doc said I will most likely need surgery, which I cannot aford. I have no med insurance, and my mother paid for the  doc visit and MRI out of her pocket...yeah...her pocket. Been out of work for 7 days and don't know when I can return. Slowly going broke while my friends and family are pooling together to pay my rent/bills for the next month. I don't want and cannot afford surgery for this! I've now got Vicodin, Naproxin, and a muscle relaxer from the doc, but if I don't get the surgery, will I have to live my life on pain meds now???? I don't want an addiction to these things, but I just want this pain to stop. It has been (from 1-10) at a consistent '7' for the past five days with no relief but for the pills. What can I do???? Family is willing to pay for PT/Chiropractor but can PT fix this??? Anyone know what to do?

Thanks grpt for responding. No, this didn't come from an accident. It's something that started about 6 yrs ago, and this has been the most severe flare up. 6 yrs ago I pinched a nerve in my upper back out of nowhere, doing the most random, innocuous thing--I was sitting on the edge of my couch one morning, and I simply stretched! I raised both arms over my head and did a typical morning stretch and a yawn and POW! Like a lightening bolt in my upper right back, a sharp pain knocked to my knees out of nowhere. I broke out into a sweat, saw stars, and felt extremely nauseous. I couldn't straighten up again without terrible pain. Went right to a chiropractor who diagnosed it as a pinched nerve, did some adjustments, and within a few days it subsided and went away. I had no prior history of back problems beofre then, but since then I'll have a flare up about once or twice a year. It comes on gradually, and I always know what it is. Sometimes it's not so bad, and I can manage. Other times I've had to take a day off from work to rest, but it still always subsided. This time it just escalated to unbelievable agony with numbness/pain/tingles/swelling in my right arm, which brought me to this point--facing surgery. Just not sure what to do. Thanks for the advice.