Whirly-
You see, you are typical in that there is *no* "typical." Nobody can say that it'll take "this" long or that you'll spend "that" amount of money. There are just too many variables.
And as you've seen, sometimes life interferes with our plans! We may want to do something a certain way in a certain time frame. ...And then the flight school goes out of business. Or a parent dies...or some other life emergency crops up that we hadn't counted on. Damn the capriciousness of nature!
I just read something...wish I could remember where I saw it or who was speaking. I think it was the current president of the HAI, or somebody noteworthy like that. Maybe it wasn't even a helicopter guy. Anyway, this guy said that he often gets asked by non-pilots if they should become commercial (helicopter) pilots. He always answers, "No." His reasoning is that if they are that easily dissuaded, they probably shouldn't be in the business anyway. The ones who don't take "no" for an answer are the ones who will ultimately succeed. Strange thinking, and I'm not entirely sure I agree with his tactic, but what the hey...he's probably right.
But Whirly, good on ya for sticking with it! In the end, that's what it's all about...following a dream and just not giving up.