Synopsis Shminopsis

I spent the better part of five years writing a genre novel that was carefully and painstakingly edited by Ardath Mayhar, who generously wrote a letter of introduction for me to editors and publishers in NY. She proclaimed my book to be excellent and intriguing and unique. She likened my writing to many successful, famous contemporary fantasy writers, and her praise and belief in my talent made me feel like I had arrived. I was a writer.
I promptly sent her letter along with one of my own out to several big houses in NY...and then sat smugly back on my ego and waited for the requests for my masterpiece to come in...and I waited, and waited and waited.
Almost a year later, a form letter from one of these houses arrived. It apologized for being a form letter and asked for a synopsis, and the first three chapters of my book and directed me to a website to familiarize myself with their submission guidelines.
That was almost 9 months ago...I am still working on the synopsis. In my defense, I did go through a divorce, my sister passed away, I was forced to move out of my home with my teen aged daughter...lots of stuff in a short period of time...but that stuff aside...I simply can't write a ten page synopsis. I honestly think it might be easier to rewrite the entire novel.
How do you capture the quality of your writing, the conflict and motivation of your characters and tell a 400 page story in ten pages or less? How...huh? How?