Hi Melissa,
Welcome to NeuroTalk,

I copied this from your intro above so the members can chime in on your questions.

It's nice to see that you are having some improvements.

I hAD A SEVERE REPETITIVE STRAIN - SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS KEY!-
mine was dx'd as bilat wrist strain at the beginning of that.
After some good amount of recovery I was re injured - and then after more fairly good PT, I was stuck at a certain level of chronic injury.
-So I decided to go search on my own & I found very helpful adv.PT & a chiro- they did the best evaluations so far & believed it was TOS, and the treatments they each did for me have been the most helpful.
Between the both of them - and my self care that i do- I am only at a mild but chronic stage now.
my worst problem is fine finger coordination { hit wrong keys often!}

you story sounded so similar to mine in many ways I had to tell you- my worst time of symptoms lasted for 2 + yrs.
I still could grip but had lost some of the strength for awhile- but it did come back.

Have you had any advanced or expert phy therapy??

I would really give that a good shot first before agreeing to surgery.
Sharon Butlers stretches, posture work, ...
have you had an MRI and xray to check for any other possibles?
{c spine inj? or extra cervie rib?}

Did you see the other stickys by the intro thread? tons of good help in those