Darn
Any files hanging around in the same folder, with upfront gibberish like "~$test.doc"? That "~$" prefix denotes a working backup Word maintains while a file is open. When you close normally that file becomes your official document, but if Word crashes it hangs around and may contain recoverable data.
I'm grasping at straws now. Losing data's a bitch, and you have my sympathy.