I apologize for the lack of updates, I guess I'm just in a such a good mood the thought of the follow-up slipped my mind!
That was the final trick needed! Once I got the hose in the toilet in itself and flushed it down we're back to normal officially! There was a brief scare when the bowl filled up rapid quick, but then you hear the sound and everything just PLOPS down into the drain and oh man I was so happy to see that.
When in doubt, just stick a hose in it.
Thank you so much for the help this past week!