Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

When I woke in the hospital after my stroke , and I couldn’t speak, walk, or feel my right side.

Clintfolly ‘a wife (whose a speech therapist) taught me how to talk again.

No hard times, but packing out an Alaska moose.

Losing a child is the worst thing I can imagine. God Bless!

Had to drag a big deer out of a swamp with a torn tendon in my right foot.

1000 piece Taylor Swift puzzle was a mfer

The sky, her hair color and the wood on the piano…all same color

Well, my pity party pales in comparison to some of these stories. It just goes to show that we should be damned thankful for the blessings we are given.

I had some tough times getting to this spot in life, but hopefully have passed on good values that will keep my children centered, healthy, and happy through their adulthood.

When I woke in the hospital after my stroke , and I couldn’t speak, walk, or feel my right side.

Clintfolly’s wife (taught me how to talk again.

Telling my wife that her mother had been murdered.

Telling my 3 young sons (16, 12, 10) their mother died in a car wreck.

DLI was pretty tough. But I liked that . It actually meant something to graduate from there

Agreed - it's no participation trophy for sure. Just was the first time where I struggled academically until I learned how to learn (cliche I know but true). Managed to get honors and a 3/3/2 but damn, I sweat blood for it.

My mom passed from cancer a few years back. My folks live about a 10 hour drive from me and I had just started a job that entails almost 24 hour responsibility. For the first year, she seemed to be beating it. Just into the second year, she seemed to get worse, but she insisted that she was going to beat it and she was just fine. Her personality changed a lot in that second year, just wasn't herself. I tried to get back there as often as possible, but I also selfishly didn't go at times that I could have made something work. I talked to her on the phone almost daily, and she was often lonesome for her family to visit. At Christmas time the second year, she was in bad shape. Basically existing on pain pills and barely able to walk. We had to make the decision to put her in hospice care at the nursing home because there is no way that my dad could get her off the floor if she fell, due to his own health problems. That spring, dad called and said that we should come out and see her, because the doctors said she didn't have long. We hurried over and spent time with her. It was hard the last year she was with us, her personality was gone. The cancer had spread to her brain and she was minimally coherent. When she was, she was not at all the mother I had known my whole life. Leaving on that last day was the hardest thing I've done to date. She passed about 3 weeks later. I still feel guilt and sadness for not having done more and not being able to talk with her any longer.

Our last real conversation was when we moved her into the nursing home. I hugged her before leaving for the trip home and she whispered in my ear, "I fought it good, didn't I?" All I could do was hug her a little tighter and nod. She started chemo the day after she retired. Not one day of retirement was hers to enjoy.

Standing with my friend as they lowered his child into the ground. (spinal meningitis)

Caring for my dad as dementia ate him alive and holding him as he passed.

2 years later, now caring for my mom as her body is just shutting down but her mind is still there. Honestly, don't know which is worse!

But all of this too shall pass...

8SNAKE;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope the day's been behaving itself for you and you're well.

I'll start with a sincere thank you for the thread and for those who've shared some of the bumps in the road they've had.

When I read them it's difficult for me to comprehend the anguish it'd cause me if I was asked to go there, you know?

Then again the Good Book indicates we'll not be asked to go through what we cannot endure, but I'll admit sometimes when I'm in the midst of it I do wonder.

Personally I find it easier to deal with "stuff" happening to me than it happening to others I care for. My gut feel is we're all that way.

A week or not quite back I outlined on the catheter thread how I ended up in a Stryker frame for 5 weeks and then another couple weeks on top of that with a body cast. It's interesting you noted a white light as I've talked to a few people and they've related similar experience. I want to say I felt like I was about to walk across a bridge - more like a BC railway trestle though as there was that "no guardrail" feel. All I had to do was reach out and go and I'd be on my way, you know?

Because of the extent of my injuries breathing was intensely uncomfortable so I did give stopping that activity some serious consideration.

Parents weren't easy either for us or 3 of the 4 were not. I was there at 2:00AM when the EMTs loaded Dad into the ambulance with another stroke. I was the one who told the doctor not to take measures like you've described to save him at a little after 5:00 as well as Mom wasn't in any condition to make that decision. Bless Dad's heart, but he'd discussed that with me many, many times - but never once with Mom.

Both of our Mom's ended up in dementia care facilities. Having to accept that we couldn't take care of them and then watching them unravel before our eyes wasn't pleasant either for sure.

That all said and taken into account, I'd have to say holding one of our daughters on my lap as we sped to meet the ambulance - her bleeding from a head wound from a high powered pellet gun - me not knowing if she was crossing over or would have permanent damage...

Indeed that's it for me sir.

Funny how we don't even think about some of those moments, much less attempt to articulate them is it not?

We've had some financial ups and downs like everyone else, been evacuated for a wildfire once and on standby last year, but that's all pretty insignificant in comparison.

Still, when I look back on my life I'll still tell you or anyone who will listen that I've been blessed far, far beyond anything I could ever have done to deserve it.

Thanks again for the thread, I do believe it was good for me personally today and I appreciate it.

Good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

I haven't had mine yet. Burying the old man will be that day.

I have intubated about 85 patients. I always wondered what that felt like.

I thank God every day for the wonderful life I've been able to enjoy and for that reason I try to ignore or at least minimalize the few tough times I've had to deal with. After reading this far in this thread I realize how incredibly lucky I've been so far in this life and pray it keeps up. I'm sure I have things I could look back on and wonder how I got through them, but none of them would be worth mentioning among the pain mentioned in this thread. I've been lucky to have 7 brothers and sisters who have been pretty supportive to each other over the years in our own way- even though we have had our disagreements we always forgive and forget and move along with our lives pretty unscathed. Our parents went pretty peacefully, only a small intermittent bout of dementia showing with my mother at times, but both fought to the end until their bodies just wore out in their mid eighties. Not sure if we were taught or just accepted that death was a part of life but that is kind of how we have dealt with it in our time. My FIL and MIL both passed last year and it was tough watching my wife and her family going through it, but there was plenty of time and gatherings to deal with the grief and both went as peacefully as can be expected.

My heart goes out to those who have suffered and hope there is peace to be found in time. Just goes to show you don't really know someone until you've walked in their shoes...

Telling my dad that it was time to stop dialysis and let the end come.

🦫

Hitting the end of those restraints was the scariest moment of my life, by far.

Holding mom while she was naked and Dad and a family friend cleaned her up from an accident. She couldn't talk, and I'm not sure she even knew what was happening. I hugged her and told her that we we would be ok and she didn't have to keep holding on. Later that evening I gave her some oral morphine and sat with her for a while. I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back in the room she was gone.