Phd admissions with strange academic record and multiple schools?

I've had a somewhat similar rough start of college, with about three wasted years. I expected that it would very much be a problem as well. I'm now doing my masters and have a job that is very relevant to my field, and I've had some other relevant jobs as well.

In the interviews for those jobs, and during my application for my master, the subject of my unusual first years of college came to the table of course. However, I found that when you talk about it, it shows openness which is generally appreciated. What I also experienced, is that it can give you a good way to talk about how you have grown as a person and what you've learned from those experiences. In my case, it made me much more determined, and I could easily tell what I now am capable of, instead of focussing on what I was incapable of. It sounds like this could also hold for you! Because with your story about the load you're taking on, I feel like nobody will really care about that one year, and people can and will focus on what you're doing now.