EW4

Nick, I will give you my best shot at answering some of your questions; however, I am no doctor and only have the studies I have read over to give you insight. I definitely think you need a second opinion if you are noticing extreme deformation of the area though... although a bad trauma like that could cause some major swelling issues that would hinder your view. Here we go...
1) I would say, get a second opinion.
2) I would say weight training is not out of the question after EIGHT weeks; the doctor's advice of stretching and maybe some band work after 6 is probably accurate if he properly diagnosed your issue. I would wait on lifting for an additional two weeks or so. That said, you are probably the best guage with that situation; my torn quad took many weeks to heal and there was severe pain until it recovered completely and I could even consider pushing any weight.
3) Definitely. However, due to muscle memory and other phenomenon with our muscle tissue you can very quickly recover what you have lost after allowing sufficient rehabilitation.
4) Your readings were not hogwash. Studies have shown variable percent strength increases on the other half of the body when training only one side. One study, I can remember right offhand, stated training with one arm rendered an average of 25% strength increase in the other. I would be careful with overdoing this though as you would certainly end up with some balance issues if you worked out like normal on your non-effected side.
5) Just keep eating quality protein! Remember, you tore the muscle, if your body can use the tissues for their original purposes (i.e. lifting the forearm) it will; however, it is likely your body will metabolize the muscle tissue (protein) back into aminos to use elsewhere. So you will basically be using less muscle to do the job you used to do with the original muscle.

Muscle tears suck, sorry to hear about your struggle. My best advice is work a shitload on your legs and come back kicking in eight weeks. Best of luck!

-Emery