I broke my sixth rib six months ago, but broke it in the cartilage
area as opposed to the bone area.  After still being in pain and being
so physically limited, I decided to go back for a follow up x-ray.  I
was originally told the rib would heal, but second time around was
told that because that the break is in the cartilage area, it will not
heal because cartilage will not grow back (together).  I was also told
that with this being the case, I would essentially be dealing with
chronic pain indefinitely.  I was not happy with what I heard, as I am
young and very active.  My questions are:  Do people tend to have
chronic pain in situations such as this?  What treatments, if any, are
available to remedy this?  How effective are the treatments?  Lastly,
do you recommend any doctors or specialists in Orange County, CA? 
Please help!  Thank you for your time.

1.) I'm not a Dr. I just play one on the internet.

2.) If you have insurance and you can afford a second opinion, get one
if you haven't already.  Very often medical opinion's differ widely
and you might be stunned to find a better treatment.  Go see a sports
medicine expert or an orthopedist.

3.) Research everything your doctor tells you.  It's your body, you
get to choose what they do to you.  Dr.'s don't always get it right,
and they don't always have the best solutions at hand.

With that said, surgical treatment may be an option to consider. 
While surgery is quite painful and takes time to recover.  The end
result may be better than being physically limited at your age. 
Recovery, range of motion, and pain all vary from patient to patient.

There was a lot of stuff found by searching repair torn rib cartillage. 

http://www.gazettearchives.com/panthers2001/_article/00000427.htm 
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/clubhouse_injuries.asp?sport=MLB&majteam=LA
http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?citeID=123533
http://www.prolonews.com/slipping_rib_syndrome1.htm
http://www.therapymall.com/?aff=123408/
http://home.att.net/~drdaveharris/prolotherapy/ProloHandout.pdf

Good luck.

You should see a pain specialist.
You probably have chronic costochondritis. Cartilage will heal but it
takes a long time.
Good luck.