I'll bet there are many 'careers' that ended after the first session or two, never really giving themselves a chance.
I too consider myself very lucky.
I didn't boost my very underfunded bankroll early on, like NightStalker, but I didn't lose it either.
My first two years I made very limited profits, somewhere close to EV, but I needed every penny of that to live on. I wasn't able to grow my bankroll at all, until I hit a positive variance stretch a couple years in. Luckily I didn't hit a negative variance stretch during that time or it would have wiped me out and I would have been finished before I really got started.