So, generally speaking, my hands are feeling much better now after typing. The rest and exercise routine, combined with improved ergonomics at work, was successful. Most days, when I leave work, my hands feel fine. The only problems I have are when I use the laptop extensively (like when attending a conference), or when I am typing away from my ergonomic setup (like when attending off-site training).
But things still are not perfect, as I found today. We are getting into "crunch time" at work, and so I have been coding my little brains out for the last two weeks. Over the course of the last few days, in particular, I have really been going to town. Pretty much everybody has been busy with the visiting dignitaries that we have in the office this week, leaving me all alone to code. And while I have been greatly productive, I am finding that there is an upper-limit in terms of how much typing I can do in a day. A limit that I find, of course, during periods of heavy programming.
I'm hoping that once I get a proper ergonomic setup at home, and reduce my laptop usage down to near-zero, that I'll be able to type even more. But, I'll have to see how it goes.
-Andy.