I have learned a few exercises from the physical therapist that I was seeing that I believe was more geared to increasing my range of motion. There were a couple of strength training exercises that involved a type of play-dough. Some of these exercises did cause a soreness in my wrist so I am not sure if they are all beneficial. My physical therapist was unaware that I had chondromalacia when she assigned the exercises to me but she has 20 years experience so I imagine that she had an idea to the extent of damage to my cartilage. I am no longer seeing the physical therapist as my doctor did not renew my prescription for physical therapy and it is quite expensive without being able to use my insurance. Should I continue on with the exercises that did not cause my wrist to go sore that I was doing with my therapist? I could scan the example sheet she gave me and post it on here to show what I was doing. If you could recommend some exercises for me to do I would appreciate it. Currently I do basic range of motion stretches once a day on my wrist.

I am trying my best not to do anything extensive with my wrist. I am confused with what I can and cannot do at this point in time. My doctor informed me that I am OK to do whatever activities I wish to do. With that response I asked him if I could dig an 8 inch deep 50 foot trench in my backyard to put in a small irrigation line. His response was to maybe hold off for a while which contradicts his statement that I am OK to do whatever I want now. I do pick up my daughter (approx 30 lbs) to hold her which takes both hands but that is the extent of what I currently do. As far as my job goes, I am a power plant operator. To be more specific, I am a control room operator. My job mainly involves operating the plant via computers, however, I also get cycled to work as an outside operator which involves operating large manual valves, transferring chemicals, lifting, etc. Luckily, I am training a new operator so I am not scheduled to work outside until Dec.
Additional Comment I forgot:
I wish I would have read your post sooner. I did wear my brace one night and it made my wrist very stiff. I had some burning sensations on the thumb side of my wrist while trying to get my range of motion back from this.

Would it help if I scanned a few images from my MRI and post them on here? I do not know how to read them but I have a strong feeling as to which images show the chondromalacia.

So chondromalacia is a softening of the cartilage along with surface damage? The softening of the cartilage is due to the fiber network in the cartilage breaking up... Is this a true understanding of what chondromalacia is? Does the fiber network restore itself as to allow the cartilage to regain its resiliency to being wore down?