Hello wikimaniacs, I hope it's OK to post my own story.
It's also my first time posting on this subreddit. I will try my best to keep it brief. But this may be a beefy read.
Trigger Warnings: Death, Illness, Pet Death
Not gonna sugar coat it or lie. This past year and a half to two years has been probably the most difficult and trying of my life.
Starting in June of 2024 my mom, who I knew was ill, but not the full extent of it, took a fall while I was seeing Deadpool and Wolverine with my then best friend. She had texted me to come straight home so my dad wouldn't strain himself helping her up (she lost the ability to use her legs properly, I will cover why she couldn't use her legs later on). We got her up and where she stayed, and she was a little sore but didn't want to go to the hospital at the time. A couple days later she was in so much pain she was screaming so we called the rescue squad to take her to the hospital. At first they thought that she had a fracture in her back. For a little backstory, my mom had survived breast cancer twice, and had 2 to 3 auto immune diseases. One of them i believe was called scleraderma. Anyways, on a closer look they discovered that her cancer had come back while they were treating her other diseases, only it had come back in her bones. Primarily her lower spine which is what they initially thought was the fracture. The cancer was basically blocking her from using her legs. They came up with a treatment plan for the cancer, and found her a rehab facility within 5 minutes of where we lived for her to come and do some rehab while they did the cancer treatment to help her gain strength back in her legs.
That's when the downward spiral fully starts.
She's sent to the facility. We're given the welcome tour, everyone seems nice at the time. I go home becsuse my job at the time had me working all hours. I had to leave to start getting ready for bed for work the next day. I visit after work and she seems to be getting along alright. She's a little frustrated because she was used to my dad and i being able to help her whenever she needed so having to wait on the nurses stunk for her but she was managing. Over the next couple of days she starts complaining of not feeling well. She believed she had a UTI, she's had then a few times in life so she knew what they felt like. She was then ignored for 3 days. She told my dad and I repeatedly that she felt so bad and no one would listen to her, nurses or the floor doctor. So the nice facade was over and done with. On the 4th day/night of being in unbearable pain and messed herself more than a few times because the nurses would not help her out, the ambulance was called.
Things from there kinda got way worse way fast. She got to the emergency room and was immediately put on some of the most powerful antibiotics out there because she had progressed to the point to where she couldn't even urinate. She was in the hospital for the next month. Ended up going into full blown sepsis. She was in the ICU with about 12 different IV bags. And at that point her brain was gone. Over a week or so you could kinda tell she was starting to get what they call hospital psychosis and wasnt herself. But by that point everything just kinda cooked her brain. She could recognize my dad and I. But she couldn't really speak besides "help me" and "home". It doesn't happen as much now. But I get flashes of seeing and hearing her try so hard to get up and yell "help me" all of the time. Eventually she got to where she had no energy. She was just lifeless and barely looking around.
Her suffering ended on September 3rd at 11:00 at night. I was at work. My dad came in and let me know. I couldn't even leave work to go to the hospital with him because I couldn't find someone to replace me.
Fast forward literally just six weeks. Its the middle of October and my dad has a routine colonoscopy, as its done the doctor comes in and let's us know my dad has a mass in his colon the size of a softball and they have to operate relatively quickly to determine what kind of cancer he has and how aggressive it is. Yes now we're dealing with cancer with my dad just 6 weeks after my mom died. Fast forward to January the operation is taking place. Apparently this mass on his colon was covering a valve that helps get rid of fluid from your appendix. His appendix was ready to burst at any point so they went ahead and removed that as well. Probably the most nerve-racking 7 hours of my life. I am an only child and my friends were all working so I had to be there alone.
Turns out, the mass was a slow growing less aggressive. Thank God. Was only a stage 1 cancer, very treatable with chemotherapy. So we proceeded to do said chemo treatments. Problem with those? Theres this condition called "chemo brain" which mixed with the death of the person you've spent the last 40-45 years with means you apparently just half go on the deep end. My dad was so erratic at the time. He would get rid/sell of so many things it's not even funny. I would come home from work and an entire room would be clear. I didn't really get a chance to look through my mom's stuff and see if there's anything I wanted. To be honest, im a little bitter about that and i'm trying so hard not to be. He also proceeded to get rid of all of his guns and couldn't give an overly good reason why other than he friend wanted him to for their peace of mind because of his behavior. Which I understand to an extent but my dad has had guns all his life and that was the last thing on his mind.
We got through his chemo as unscathed as you can be. Had a couple weeks of time to recover. And then one mid afternoon in March 2025, I'm coming downstairs to get something to eat before I go to work and I notice my dog acting extremely weird. Her head is jerking and she couldn't stand or move. I called my supervisor and she basically told me I had to figure out my shift. At least this time someone took my shift. Took my dog to the emergency vet and turns out she had a stroke and an amalgamation of other issues. My dad and I made the hardest decision and we had to put my Luna to sleep. She was a 13 year old husky. She was an awesome dog with a huge personality.
Three big hits all in a row. And a job that treated me like crap the whole time I was dealing with it all. They would be making me work from 3pm to 5am with only one other closer (thats why it would take us 3-4 hours after close to get done) just to turn around and have to be back at 10am the next morning and work til 8 or 9 in the evening. Just to be back at 4am for the next shift. Or have a boss that would change your schedule on the fly and not tell you. It got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore and quit. There was way more to it than that. But this post is getting long and I have a little more to go. This company was mcdonalds btw. Don't work there for your own health hah.
Worked at Verizon briefly but I was laid off due to not being a good salesman. Was much better at fixing electronics then scamming people out of $800-1000 for a phone that they would still somehow be paying on for the next 3 years.
I just wanted to explain my story so that I can say this next thing. This podcast has been a god send to me. Ive listened almost religiously for the last year and a half and its been one of the few things that has brought me out of my depression every once in a while. I love listening to you guys and your very intelligent takes. I love listening to John annoy Shawn with puns and wordplay, Josh is always so even tempered and calming to listen to. I listen pretty much all day while im working because it helps make the day go by quicker. Im afraid to see how many minutes ive listened on my wrapped this year. So thank you again boys. You've helped me and so many other people so keep it up. And if I ever start making the money I made being a manager at mcdonalds, ill be a rich rich. I wanna hear the bonus stories so bad.