Hand Nerve Pain

I believe the pain I am experiencing is likely caused by a cast that was applied for a broken radial bone break on my right arm done on December 31, 2007.  The break/fall caused my entire hand - from wrist to 2nd nuckles to turn purple.  The cast was applied 4 days after injury - and I continued to experience pain in my hand - but at the time believed the pain was due to the fall - bruising, sprain that had caused my hand to turn purple.  The purple went from purple to green to yellow and then back to an almost normal color over the course of the next couple three weeks.  Between the third  and fourth week however I noticed my fingers were starting to turn blue/green again.  A call to the doctor who applied the cast gave me directions to ice my hand and seek stronger pain drugs if needed.  My boyfriend is a newly licensed RN - and he wasn't happy with the directions (nor was I) so we visited our local ER that evening.  They immediately split the cast (not removed) to allow some pressure relief - which allowed my fingers to return to pink within a few minutes.  Upon having the cast removed a couple weeks later however - we discovered that it had still been placing lots of pressure on two points.  One being on the outside of my thumb - where it reaches to the wrist and the other being almost centered - maybe slightly towards the pinky finger - on the back of my right hand.  This pressure point actually caused a significant (very visible) indentation on the back of my hand.  It has now been two full weeks since the cast was removed - and I continue to have what I believe to be nerve pain from my hand - mostly involving the outside edge of my pinky - through my wrist - and into my elbow and sometimes even into my shoulder. My primary care doctor saw me a week ago and advised it does appear to be some nerve damage - but he feels it will repair (heal) and go away on its own with time.  I guess now I am wondering what is a reasonable time for this - and is there anything I can do to assist - other than the normal therapy to restore the strength and use of my hand and arm... squeezing nerf balls - and I am using it for most of my normal daily activities - until I feel slight pain - but not pushing it too much.  I don't sleep well at night - it is painful - it stiffens up - and I am awake at least once or twice each night with the pain from this.  I currently have been alternating between Vicodin and Ibuprofin for pain when it becomes untolerable.  I would like to hear from others who have suffered something like this after breaking a bone.  Can you give me any hope?