Spent ALL day editing my site and now forced to "choose a design"! HELP PLEEEEEASE...

Does anyone have the final answer for a problem that I have read many of us in the community writing about -- when you have built your site as a new customer, and either before or after you publish it, all of a sudden, it is nowhere to be found. And the only option you have is to "choose a design", which the disclaimer clearly says will result in a deletion of your designs/work/time/effort, etc.?!?!