30 days in the field with no running water.
Couldn’t shower for a month and it made me realize I dont need to shower nearly as much as I did.
Now I shower once a week and it makes me a better man.
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2018 was been VERY TOUGH for my family thus far…
My father was born in 1964 with a congenital heart defect. A “normal” person will have four chambers within their heart; however, my father was born with just three chambers within his heart. Throughout his childhood, he endured multiple open-heart surgeries - the last major operation taking place when he was 20. That last procedure (Fontan Procedure) added a fourth chamber and repaired his heart as best as possible. At the time (1984), this was a new procedure with varied results. Fortunately, it was successful for him; however, the medical-team wasn’t exactly sure how long it would last - they estimated it would last about 20 Years. He’s a fighter though - and is now 53 which means this procedure has lasted 13 Years longer than originally anticipated!
For those within the medical profession - especially cardiac medicine - his story is fascinating. His cardiologist has given talks about him and has even written a book about the Fontan Procedure in-which he is mentioned. He’s the oldest survivor of this Fontan Procedure and has actually spoken with many families going through similar situations with their own children today - emphasizing and encouraging them that the procedure is extremely helpful, and can lead to a fully-normal and healthy life! My father has gotten married to my Mom, has two children (myself and my sister), has worked full-time his entire adult-life, and accomplished his life-long goal of owning his own coin-shop.
If you were to meet my father this time last year - and not know about his heart-condition - you would think of him as being perfectly healthy. There was no indication as to him being any different than anyone else.
However, the Fontan Procedure has finally started to catch-up with him… He’s been in heart-failure for awhile now and is not eligible for a heart-transplant do to his age and cardiac history. He’s been on cardiac medication for 30+ Years (15-20 Pills Everyday) which while 100% necessary, has taken a toll on the kidney and liver function. He’s in acute liver failure (normal for someone like him) and - most recently - kidney failure. He’s been in-and-out of Mass. General Hospital A LOT this past year (Nov. 2017 - 2018). He spent nearly the entire month of May in the hospital (3 Weeks and most recently 1 Week). During the last admission (Two Weeks Ago), a Kidney Specialist came-in and gave us the news that he’s in kidney failure - with his kidney function level being 3.5 increasing by 0.25 on a daily basis. Now, for those that aren’t familiar, that’s HIGH! A “normal” person will have a level around 1.5 - when it starts to get above 2.0 the doctors start getting nervous and if it ever gets around 6.0 or 7.0 that’s when the kidneys start to shut-down.
The Kidney Specialist gave us two options, the first being we could start dialysis. However, his body would not be able to handle the common dialysis where you’re able to go home and visit the hospital once or twice a week for treatment. This form of dialysis would be 24/7 within the Cardiac ICU of Mass. General Hospital for an extended period. Plus, there’s no way to tell how the kidneys would react - it may “jump-start” the kidneys to start working on their own again, or the kidneys would get used to this help and decide to quit working altogether - in which case the dialysis would fully take-over the kidney function (leaving him on that and in the hospital indefinitely). And if we went the dialysis-route and then decided to take him off mid-treatment, he would be in worse-shape. Where he already has so many other issues aside from the kidneys, none of the doctors found this to be a truly viable option - as it may restore the kidney function, but have a negative effect on another organ. The only other option was to bring him home so that he could live-out his remaining time at home with the family. We talked this over in-length with him, our entire family, and his entire medical-team and decided that it was best to just go home!
Before leaving the hospital, my father asked the Kidney Specialist how long he had, to which he replied it’s hard to tell. He said that it was most likely going to be a few days, but could also be a few weeks. Well, we brought my father home two weeks ago tomorrow on Hospice Care. They’ve been drawing blood twice a week to see where his kidney function level is; and it’s truly amazing - his levels are actually dropping (4.7, 3.6, 2.3, and now 1.6). Unfortunately, while his levels are dropping, he is still retaining fluids. This means that his kidneys are functioning; however, they’re not fully-functioning despite the levels being close to normal.
My father has had a few life-or-death experiences throughout his life. He has accepted this condition long ago - and while he is still fighting everyday, he has accepted that when the time comes everything will be fine. My Mom is a nursing professor, so she knows everything that has been going-on very well (perhaps to well). She’s been saying and hoping that we’ll get him through the summer for awhile now - as he truly does better in the summer-months than the winter-months (winter is tough on him). So, we’re just taking things minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, and day-by-day, just enjoying all of the time that we get to spend together!
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I’ve been very lucky to live a pretty easy life overall. Born into a very stable and loving family who I’ve been lucky to not lose anyone too close to me or at too young of an age yet. Both smoking grandparents who I wasn’t very close with died in their 60’s when I was younger and the remaining ones are about to be entering their 80’s soon.
Back in college though I did go through quite a horrible week when our apartment burnt down. The apartments in the area fetched a huge price because students were used to paying $6k per year for a dorm so didn’t mind paying $400-$500 per month each to split a house. We had 10 or so in ours between all the apartments so the house I was in was grossing the landlord ~$50k per year for probably a $100k house. You had all kinds of slum lords buying up old houses and putting the minimum amount of money into them to make them look presentable. Ours didn’t look bad at all but after moving in we found tons of frequent electrical problems and were always kicking breakers. The landlord never did anything about it and all us tenants assumed that is how/why it started, but the papers concocted a more flashy story of their own as to how it started. The official fire investigation was inconclusive but some people talked and liked to run with the news story.
People have probably always wondered why I’ve so vehemently lobbied for having a fire safe for one’s valuables every time that topic comes up. This is why. Having renters insurance and a small fire safe was huge for me. $100 a year for the 4 years I was in college likely yielded the best ROI I’ve ever come across. Also the $50 sentry firebox I had at the time saved me my flash drive/hard drive backups of important files as well as a little cash and other small valuables. You wouldn’t believe how high everything you own adds up so quickly… That is without throwing expensive cardboard into the mix. Luckily at the time the bulk of my coin and card collections were at home at my parents house but I lost all my clothes, books, laptop, tv, electronics etc. Everyone made it out fine though which was the most important.
TLDR: Apartment burnt down. BUY A FIRE SAFE/RENTERS INSURANCE POLICY.
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So many to choose from.
How about the day I went into work with a fractured bone in my wrist, the woman I loved at the time was getting married not to me. Oh I should mention it was my birthday.
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The struggle is too real
About 3 years ago, my brother almost died from suicide. I’m happy he survived it.
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That’s a tough one brother. Was he suffering with mental illness?
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I don’t really have a true toughest time, but I know there will probably be some ahead. Right now I live with my gf in an apartment and we live quite comfortably, but are trying to save for a house. She’s very understanding of my collecting and I’m thankful for that. One thing that I do worry is that she will someday expect me to sell my collection to help pay for a house or kids and I can already see it being a difficult discussion. I built a lot of my collection through buying and selling and in doing so have not put a considerable amount into it. I’m worried about my future in the hobby because of family and life in general calling for me to quit. I recognize this is not a true tough time like being sick or losing a house, but it’s something I think about and I just want to keep having fun with pokemon. I fear that the day I sell off my collection is the day I truly will have to grow up. So many fond memories lie in the cards and pokemon from growing up and I hope I can find a way to continue forever. Someday I want to have a kid and give him some booster packs to open from the current sets. I just worry about sacrificing myself in the process.
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My sage advice: Ask her to marry you at noon then bring up your “collection/investment” that you would save for your future childs college education an hour later. She will already be happy due to the engagement plus she could never ask you to sell early and sacrifice her child’s education. That’ll protect your collection for another 18 years;)
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@joer if it meant the difference between being able to buy a house and start your life together with a wonderful wife vs. not being able to do that or having her/your family resent you for it I’d sell (a good chunk) in a heartbeat. Keep those ones that you are closest to but realize all cards will come back around again especially if we are talking set cards here. Just because you sell doesn’t mean they’re gone forever. You said you’ve built through buying and selling so just keep doing that and years later I’m sure you’ll be back where you were if not further ahead.
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Cut and print! haha
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My dad passed away last April (2017) from a heart attack in his sleep. He was 60 years old. Alcoholism was the main cause of death as he couldn’t get away from it, and it is something that is very serious. I think about him everyday, and collecting Pokemon helps me think of the good times and preserves memories
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In high school I had low grades and I almost dropped out in 11th grade
I had very low grades, barely passing, and I hated the whole concept of going to school and the pressure that came with it (I went to a very competitive high school.) I remember I was in 11th grade and I would literally ponder everyday to drop out as I had given up on school completely. I was ranked at the bottom of my class, and many of my friends were all excited to apply to top tier colleges like UCLA for example. The only sport I played at the time was basketball and I was pretty good at it, but for some danm reason each year I tried out for the high school team they would have some reason to reject me. The worse was the tryout in the beginning of junior year (4th time trying out). That one baffled me the most and made me really think the world was unfair and it carried over in school. I would stop studying for test or do my homework as I felt everything I done was pointless. I really was considering drop out of school. I would skip classes from time to time and then came the day when I mustered up the courage to actually decided to drop out and told my counselor at the time my decision and asked her how I am suppose to go about it. I remembered that she would ask me bunch of question such as “Why do you want to drop out?, What do you plan to do know? etc.” And at the time I had all the answer planned out! She had said okay we will work something out to get the process going. But instead she decided to call my dad and told him my plan. I thought my dad would just blow up on me but surprisingly he was calm and helpful.
As my plan got foiled, I was forced to schedule biweekly one on ones with my counselor and make sure my grades were up to date. In my meeting with the counselor she would help me find colleges I could still make it into (if I did well on my SATs), and motivated and kept me on track to go to college. By the end of the first semester of senior year I had gotten my grade point average up to a passing ( I believe it was 2.0, I graduated high school with 2.2/2.3 GPA) which allowed me to walk in high school, as well as qualified me for universities. I also ended up discovering a new hobby my final year and walked onto the varsity track and field team.
I eventually did go to a state university and graduated last year with over a 3.0. Throughout high school my attitude was always negative and not optimistic, but slowly that change in my final year of high school and carried over into college. I really enjoyed my years in college and having a positive and optimistic attitude made it happen. 
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Thanks for the giveaway!
I won’t go into too much depth here but I wanted to join the airforce for a number of years as a officer, I did a course at university as I didn’t have the qualifications from school to join at officer level. After university I applied and failed on a medical basis, nothing I could do to change it, that was it. I bounced around some different jobs after university but was struggling to find anything that really stimulated me and found myself feeling very low potentially bordering depression.
Eventually I decided a change had to happen because I couldn’t go on the same path.
I left my job and volunteered abroad in Nepal and continued to travel for a year and half in total. That helped to put alot of things in perspective for me and now I am in a much happier place and stronger within myself.
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There was a train derail that directly affected clients/customers of us, and killed dozens of people. I was one of the personnel that had to help out in the disaster for the company. It’s a completely different picture when you are so close to a tragedy, even if the people that passed away are not people you directly know.
Seeing a list of people that I know are dead before family members knew about their passing, and the nitty gritty details really makes me appreciate workers in the health, security and other hazardous sectors. The emotional and psychological effects they face must be intense. I left work depressed for weeks while the tragedy unfolded before me.
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Moved away from home/my little island to bigbigEurope to continue studying. Was 19@that time, got myself a job right away and after 6years I can finally say i have a diploma (got it about 3weeks ago!) steady job, good roof over my head & a great financial income. No girlfriend, almost summer vacation & ready to invest a lottt of money into Pokémon cards.
If my 11-year old self could see where i am right now in life he would be very proud.
Not a sad story like most of the ones i read here (ofcourse i had my big ups/downs in these 6years and more then enough difficult challenges) but i also think its very important to keep reminding yourself of the successes you had in life.
It’s awesome to read how postive/strong you guys are for having to handle with all that shit…
…and still have a bigger pokemoncard collection then me 
I suffer from social anxiety and that made me be behind in common social things people accomplish in life. I had no friends and because I only had my mind - it went to a dark place. I eventually came to terms that I may never have something as simple as a girlfriend in my life. It only hurts in the beginning but not expecting things puts the mind in a calm place. I found it funny that in school, it said - “No child is left behind”. I did excellent in school and got A’s with not too much effort. But in fact I was behind everyone else socially. People just thought I was quiet but it was more than just that. Because of this as well, I am having difficulty securing a job. It made me see that education doesn’t really matter as much as just being a normal person with at least average level social skills. I am trying to make reselling my form of making money but it’s tough when you don’t have a normal job to supplement it as well. If I had a job, I would be a very successful seller.
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We have a few members here (or family members) with social problems, some due to autism. All are very bright. Don’t slight your educational accomplishments because that was very important too.
Maybe someone here can reach out to you and share their stories with social problems;)
At the very least, you have friends here and we hope you keep sharing and participating.
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I want to add my 2c to anyone who has ever dealt with depression/suicidal thoughts. My toughest time was when I had gone through a rough break up me being the main cause (won’t go into much detail). There were countless times where I thought of ending my life, sitting on the edges of huge cliffs, being depressed and feeling a lot of self pity. Deep down I could never bring myself to actually do it as every nerve in my body would go against my brain every time I would try end it. Eventually as life went on things did get better and now I can confidently say I am happy with my life. Its actually quite refreshing when I think back to how things were. I’m glad to be alive as life is so precious and can throw so many curve balls. For anyone who may read this that currently feels this way there is always a brighter ending, you just have to believe. Thanks to whoever takes the time to read this.
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Mate I know the feeling. Little brother was hit by a car in 2003 that nearly killed him, making him disabled and caused him to have suicidal thoughts which got the better of him 2 years ago. I’ve had numerous times of self harm and doubt. I’ve even tried over dosing to over come the pain but just isn’t worth it. Especially now I’ve got a 3 year old son 
he keeps me going that’s for sure
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