Cboxpalace - thanks. Maybe I'm making myself feel overwhelmed with more burden than I need to. Sounds like you know how the claim works its way through. I think I was getting so paranoid that the lawyer and paralegal would not do the best job that could be done.
The unfortunate result seems to be that I'm frozen and not making a move. Someone told me that that's a bad thing to do. This person told me that the longer I wait to file, the lower my benefits will be if and when I do get my claim approved. He said the more time you are not in the workforce, the lower your benefit will be (unless I guess if you can get the onset of your disability backdated.)
Thanks for the explicit breakdown of how the process unfolds.