PIperboy
Kudo's to you for opening your Kimono and providing an unflattering for you, but accurate description of just how easy things can turn to shyte.
Flying is easy when things are going well but surviving when things start to go wrong is a true test of every pilot. Sadly there have been many smoking holes with dead people in them that resulted in a similar situation that was not handled in a way that not withstanding all the mistakes made, was still recovered into a safe landing....
I had a pretty similar situation happen to me a few years ago. Complacency and lack of planning got me into a situation where I had to fess up and get ATC to bail me out of a very ugly spot
Coincidentally the day that happen was the 30th anniversary of the day, and over 7000 hrs after, I got my pilots license.....