To ask for your 'It could be worse' stories?

[Wonderbug81]

What's the worst thing you went through (and got through)?

I want to keep things in perspective during a challenging time.

Not horrible, but very difficult:
While pregnant: being my mum's care-giver, at her bedside 12 hours a day for 6 weeks while she was in hospital, essentially doing LPN work for her as hospital was woefully short of staff, then caring for her at home right up until I gave birth by c-section, then once home back to caring for my mum, new baby and myself. Then being admitted to hospital with my very ill newborn at 7 days old for some sort of infection that was never determined. All during the pandemic and a horribly hot summer that included at 42c heat dome. Then caring for all of us when we came down with Covid/Omicron two months later.

It actually won't help you to compare because your pain is your pain.

Huge hugs to you.

And, similarly, my children have definitely helped me through my grief and surving my trauma (see upthread) too. I'm so grateful to have them 💓

And yes, there is always a chance of similar awful things happening to me.

But on balance - and this will sound awful to say - but my health issues were the worst thing - even more terrifying and terrible than watching my poor brother pass away from cancer, or when I had emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy, or being made redundant three times.

Obviously my health issues don't negate how dreadful these situations were in themselves per se, but they are absolutely at the worst end of the scale - the fact my movement disorder won't ever go away completely and has irrevocably altered my life for the worst... that's the hardest pill to swallow (pun totally intended..!)

Mine is nothing compared to what some go through. A few years ago several things all happened in a short space of time and I ended up putting bills on credit cards, not eating to save money, stupidly not taking antidepressants every day to try and prolong between paying for prescriptions. It was horrendous and after carefully planning what to do I went out to take my own life. When I started to feel a bit better it was looking for tiny positives and reminding myself of how things could be worse that helped me focus on feeling better.

My uncle (45) and my father (55) died within 8 days of each other. It was painful but presumably much worse for my grandparents as their two sons.

I'm being treated for cancer - but I'm still alive
I've just been told I have cataracts - but I can still see

I was in the hospital for over a month with septicaemia in my leg and foot.

The doctors gave me 48 hours to live if they couldn't catch it in time.

All the medics were absolutely brilliant except one ''nurse'' who coldly told me ''Oh well, it could be a lot worse''.

No, it bloody well couldn't be! I was literally screaming and crying with it!

Expecting my second child, half way through the pregnancy found out we were having another boy. I'd been hoping for a girl to have one of each so felt a bit disappointed. A few days later after giving myself a taking to, I felt grateful for having a healthy baby.

A couple of weeks after that while on holiday got a call to say routine tests had confirmed a condition not compatible with life. A week later while still trying to process it, I went into labour and he was stillborn. The months after are just a blur. I thought I was managing ok but it was like I was walking round in a big black cloud. I stupidly convinced myself that I'd caused it by hoping for a girl.

I went to collect some furniture from the town my Mum was living in, but didn't tell her I was going to be there. I could easily have dropped in for half an hour but I just kept driving. I was being lazy and selfish. The next day a policeman was on my doorstep, to tell me she had died the previous afternoon, and a neighbour had found her that morning.

I think we blame ourselves as a way to make sense of it, a reason why. If we could control things like that it would of never of happened x

Lost my Dad to covid apr 2022, and nearly lost my mum to the same (hospitalised 3 times).

Early may 2022 husband out on his bike had a very near miss with a drunk driver - completely uninjured but could've been completely different.

2 weeks later my brother (only sibling) had series of strokes leaving him in a nursing home unleashing terrible financial problems for his wife.

Lots of awful stories on here...

Being SA by my father from the age of seven, then being raped by someone else at 14 as my boundaries were non existent.
DS (22) has had a lot of issues with drug and alcohol misuse as a teen, but is now doing amazingly well.
I'm just recovering from stage 3 bowel cancer.
I now just shrug and say to myself, 'what now?' and get on with it.
Challenges in life do teach resilience.