Hi muddywaters -
Nerves take a while to heal - in my experience nerve damage is a "1 day at a time" thing, and you won't know for sure for sometime what the future may hold, so there isn't a lot of benefit in worrying about what may happen down the road.
I do think doctors try to mentally prepare patients for the worst tho, not so that it causes panic, but so that we really take care of ourselves and do the PT. You have to do the work to recover!
Please keep us posting on how you're doing.