Well then I hope you IP attorney is providing you good advice and/or you are being completely un front with him/her. From what I have read you have provided full and public disclosure for your idea. It is readily evident and documented in these forums. It is "enabling", i.e. you have provided more than sufficient information for someone to replicate what you did.
In most of the world, there is no grace period. If you publicly disclose your idea, that is it, it is prior art (even if your own), and you can't get a patent. In the U.S., there is a 1 year grace period.
Many cables are already multiple parallel cables, so again, difficult to create a defensible patent around the concept. It is your money, which I am sure the patent attorney is quite happy to take. Patent attorneys write patents. You pay extra for patent searches.
