my hand is wasting along the side between the base of my little finger and my wrist..and in the hollow between my forefinger/thumb. Both places were commented on as being fairly standard.

If you have found an exercise that can keep those muscles from withering too much, they might be worth doing.

As soon as I could stand to get back to it, I played my guitar as much as I could handle and made sure I remembered to stretch all those fingers in every direction they can go.

For a while, my hand was too weak to hold anything..but that didn't last.
I went through a rough couple weeks where it constantly felt like I had just banged my funnybone but that misery faded on its own.

When I finally got to doctors that seem interested in me getting better, they have all agreed that I should keep using it but not overdo.
I figured it was a lot easier to try keeping as much strength as I could than to try building strength from scratch.

I wish I had thought to look for exercises on youtube!