Adding my thanks for your excellent post, Kerri. It is no picnic dealing with SSDI.
In my own and my son's experience with SSDI, after several appointments lasting several hours, and after all medical forms and doctor's rewritten recommendation that my son would be disabled for at least a year, he was turned down. He was in such a depressive state, weak, could barely walk into the SS office, he did not have the desire nor the strength to go on. At one point in one of our many interviews, with both of us there, the interviewer looked at me and asked,"Is he terminal?" Not too happy with SSDI. I applaud the extreme persistence and courage of those who have the wherewithal to get results.