Thank you. I definitely rushed into it in an effort to get my business back up and running and obviously made a bad decision. I appreciate your input and am looking into an alternate wallet. This has been quite an experience.
Thanks again.
On thing to consider in the future is having backups that are done automatically. e.g. like Time Machine for Mac OS X, so that you don't have to pay in the future. And don't have to panic. Perhaps it can be impetus to implement a continual backup strategy.
Your decision to pick Bitcoin Core wasn't bad, just the way things go when rushing. Danny gave you good advice. Good luck. ;-)