I too am a new CHL (passed the class on the 16th!) and hand gun user, and I figured I would put my two bits in. Spike, as stated earlier though it is belated, welcome to Texas, it is good to have good people flowing in!
What I am about to say is simply the observations of a noob.Right now you are looking for information comparing things, and looking for people to say why they bought this over that. You are looking for people to mention things that you might not have thought about. People will tell you that it doesn't matter what brands, what calibers, what sizes you look at because EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT... YA think?! I agree that at the moment brand doesn't matter, but one thing you need to decide now is caliber. Deciding caliber now helps you shop for the rest of it. You can decide from these three basic sizes: 9mm, .40, .45. The 9mm is not a bad round, but it has less stopping power, thus requiring either more prescision, or more hits. The .40 is known as the "compromise" round. Why? It has more stopping power than the 9mm, but just isn't quite the .45. The .45 is a big bad bullet, and it will stop. However, it holds less rounds and IS harder to conceal. Once you decide essentialy how much you want to shoot at a badguy, you are almost ready to go to the store.
Now that you have narrowed your options from three or four hundred down to forty or fifty, you need to imagine yourself and think "can I carry a service pistol (the size PD's use... we all know how large those are), or maybe a compact would be better." Once you figure that out, you will have narrowed your choices from forty or fifty, to eight or fifteen. Now you can go to the store. Once at the store you can tell the clerk you want to see all of his selection in whatever choice you made. If you find that a different size suits you better, whether larger or smaller, ask to see those instead.If you are looking for your EDC, immediatly disregard anything not a top brand since you will want something that is reliable. Your choices will have narrowed down to five or six, and the rest is how it fits in your hand, weight, and various bells and whistles.
I believe you stated that you have an injured wrist, but I wouldn't let that get in the way of your decision just yet. Why? If your wrist is going to recover, you should be readily able to handle any recoil given by the .40s&w. People will tell you all day long that the .40 has more recoil/kick/push than the 9mm... Ya think?! A few factors here, GENERALY (from my shopping experience) most of the brands put their .40's, and 9mm's on the same frame and such making it essentially the same pistol in dimensions and weight. Bigger bullet + More powder + Same size as a 9mm = tranfers more energy to you, aka kick. People will also say "the .40 has more kick than the .45!" Well, .45's are GENERALY on a larger frame, and have a greater weight. Energy to move the bullet, slide, and the weight of the pistol is eaten up before it gets to you resulting in a not as harsh kick. Also I noticed that recoil is effected by how steady a person is on their feet standing anyway. If you are easily knocked back, or have less muscule control the 9mm may be right for you. I shot about 20rds from a SIG 9mm last August on my honeymoon, and I no trouble controlling it at all.
The .40 is a great option (and I am not saying it is the only option) for several reasons: 1) It does have greater stopping power than a 9mm. My brother chose the 9mm saying "well if you put the bullet where it counts, size doesn't matter." Maybe so, but in the event that you need to use your weapon you will probably not have time to perfectly aim exactly "where it counts", and I would rather have a round that will provide more knock-back, and/or knock-down power. 2) It has grain options like any other size ammo! As noted in a previous post ammunition comes in 180gr. Well, for those of us who don't want as much kick, but still want more power than a 9mm, there is the 165gr which I find suits me well. 3) It does tend to have a frame about as small as a 9mm which is easier to conceal on a smaller person than a .45 would be.
I would continue to look at the XD as an option. I too thoroughly enjoyed the feel of it. I almost bought the S&W .40 subcompact, but I didn't like the safety where it was. I looked at the Glock because Glocks are like the AK of pistols... you can wash it with your clothes, then run over it with your car, then burry it for a week in mud, pull it out and fire it like nothing ever happend. However, the Glock .40 that was comparible to the XD40SC did not fit all of my fingers. The Glock was also very light, and I knew that would make recoil "snappy". I chose the XD40SC for the heavier frame/slide to reduce the recoil, but the drawback there is the weapon is HEAVIER
Other than that it does fit on my person well. I hope this helps some how!