Is my transmission completely done for?

What is your question?

I have to wait for it to find its way to reverse. When I go into drive, it violently shakes and sounds like somethings ready to fall out of my hood for the first shift or two. After that it runs fluently, like nothing was ever wrong. It's always the first few shifts after it has been sitting for awhile. I checked the transmission fluid while it was running and added a little just in case. This has not fixed the problem at all. Recently it had a moment where it couldn't reverse, either it didn't shift to reverse or it wasn't using the engine to move because it would just rev like I was in neutral when I went to back up.

How long has your 2002 Saturn SL had this problem?

The reverse is new, but the trouble with the first few shifts has been going on for a few months.