Many thanks to everyone who posted. 
I'll do the reset, but not immediately, as I'm in the process of reading a couple of books.
As mentioned, I've already copy/pasted the entire Documents folder onto my computer. When I do a reset, and then register my Kindle again, and then update the software (if it's not the current version), then hopefully all I'll need to do is copy/paste the contents of the Documents folder back onto my Kindle. Perhaps all the Collections will be intact.
Really, my current problem is only when I connect my Kindle to my computer. Other than that, nirvana!
Don