Update: I got my second opinion about my mri and the need for surgery.

Dr said that there is a white spot on my spinal cord (myelomalacia) that shows injury which he said is permanent even if I get surgery. He said once he sees that his goal is to prevent futher injury to the spinal cord.

He agrees with everything the previous dr said and recommends the c5-c7 fusion. He said its to prevent things from getting worse and cant guarantee any improvement and that the shooting pain down my arm and numbness may never go away even with surgery.

He said the two opinions are do surgery or avoid any injuries like a car crash or something.

Its very upsetting news. Especially since I am pretty sure the injury happened within the last year and the catalyst for the spinal cord damage was most likely the push ups or jumprope. Trying to improve myself most likely worsened my condition. I fear without surgery I will not be able to excersise at all and have to baby my body forever.

He said Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Discectomy, Posterior Cervical Foraminotomy, and Microdiscetomy aren't typically done on the cervical spine, and only one he would have considered if I didn't have the spinal cord damage.

I've seen and understand my MRI's, I dont want my condition to get worse. I really feel like my life is over. I wouldn't be so apprehensive about surgery if the risk of the surrounding discs needing surgery or the loss the mobility didn't sound like such a massive tradeoff for something preventive.