Michele! Awesome to see your log. I can't wait to see your progress!
With chins: I'm working back up to doing them now, too. But having gone through this before (I used to do pullups back in the day), I can tell you that they're just like that. You just can't do them at all, and then all of a sudden, you can. What worked for me was lots of negatives, but if I had known about bands back then, I would have incorporated those.
Also: congrats on passing the exam! I noticed your name up in the directory.