wonkazoo,
Thank you for your excellent post, no need to apologise for its length. Like you, I have been to 'the edge' very early on in my airline pilot career, it made me think a whole lot differently about flying - to my eventual benefit. Indeed, yes, the brain does become scrambled for a while when something startling, sudden and frightening occurs. Read my link and stop for a moment and think how foolish we all were to switch off the main flight instruments in the middle of what was probably a spiral dive.
IFR conditions on the flight deck
It takes time to collect your thoughts and start to react correctly. I was the co-pilot. We survived and it made me very humble about these things ever afterwards. Armchair quarter backs should spare a thought for those caught up in such events and say to themselves,"There but for the grace of God go I."
And it applies to Sky Gods too!