Ouch, that hurts...I once got a very slight carped tunnel, as well as a tendon inflamation, from playing guitar - had to relearn my all my fingerings, which took some time, but now it's gone for more than six years!
As to my lightwave work using the Wacom, well...I have to confess that I'm using Maya... *runs for cover*
And with Maya I don't use it all too much, but I use it almost exclusively with Combustion and Photoshop.
I just can't imagine doing textures or matte paintings without the Wacom anymore. Rocks!
And here, for you to learn: mice are filthy and disease spreading rodents that belong on the floor not on your desktop! Brrrr...
As to your teacher: what a poor chap! I watched the making-of for monsters, and got the impression that working at Pixar must be huge fun. A very poor chap indeed...my condolences.
