Hi. I see that this discussion has been posted for a while, but I am hoping that someone who has had the surgery will weigh in about their experience of post-surgery playing. But I will add that if surgery is not something you are willing to do, I have another suggestion...

I am a clinical laboratory scientist, so I am pipetting and manipulating test tubes, etc all day. Then at the end of the day, I was hurting so much that I didn't want to play the guitar. So I asked my MD for a Rx of diclofenac epolamine (Flector) patches. Voltaren may also work well for you. I cut the patches into pieces that will fit around my CMC joint and secure them with Coban wrap (or tape) and it helps with the pain and inflammation a lot. I can even play guitar with the hand partially wrapped.