This is true, but my approach was still not a great one. It turns out the data structure was only accessed in a very specific way, which I could have exploited

This is true, but my approach was still not a great one. It turns out the data structure was only accessed in a very specific way, which I could have exploited to dramatically simplify the implementation. If I had researched the problem more before diving into my original idea, I could have achieved the same end goal with much less work. Lessons upon lessons :)