Using .Find in a Recursive Function - function

Question

I am trying to find the row number in a sheet using the .Find function in a recursive function.
I set an object called Found = .Find.... and it works great... for a little bit. I set it when I'm 1 level of recursion deep, then set it again when I'm 2 levels deep. Then, my code finds the end of the path and starts backing up until it gets back to 1 level deep, but not my Found object has been re-declared and kept its values from the 2nd level. My other variables (ThisRow etc...) keep the value of the level that they are in, and that's what I would like to do with the object Found. Is there a way that I can declare Found locally so that it's value doesn't extend to the next function, and can't be overwritten in a deeper level? You can find my code below for reference.
Here is my current code - irrelevant parts cut out:
Public Function FindChildren()
ThisRow = AnswerRow 'Also declared before function call
BeenHereCell = Cells(ThisRow, "O").Address
If Range(BeenHereCell).Value = "Yes" Then
Exit Function 'That means we've already been there
End If
Range(BeenHereCell).Value = "Yes"
With Worksheets("MasterScore").Range("j1:j50000")
Set Found = .Find(NextQuestionID, LookIn:=xlValues)
If Not Found Is Nothing Then
firstAddress = Found.Address
NextCell = Found.Address
Do
AnswerRow = Range(NextCell).Row
FindChildren 'This is where it's recursive.
Set Found = .FindNext(Found)
NextCell = Found.Address
Loop While Not Found Is Nothing And Found.Address <> firstAddress
End If
End With
End Function
Now I have gotten around it by activating cells, but it makes my code a lot slower. Currently I am using this:
Set Found = Worksheets("MasterScore").Range("j1:j50000").Find(NextQuestionID, LookIn:=xlValues)
If Not Found Is Nothing Then
Count = 1
Do
Columns("J:J").Select
FirstFoundRow = Selection.Find(What:=NextQuestionID, After:=ActiveCell, LookIn:= _
xlFormulas, LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:= _
xlNext, MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False).Row
For i = 1 To Count
Selection.FindNext(After:=ActiveCell).Activate
Next i
AnswerRow = ActiveCell.Row
If AnswerRow = FirstFoundRow And Count <> 1 Then Exit Do
FindChildren
Count = Count + 1
Loop
End If
This way, I don't have to set the value of the object again, but I have to iterate through it.FindNext quite a few times and each time it runs that line its also activating the row. I really just want something like.
AnswerRow = .Find(nth instance of NextQuestionID).Row
(I have about 50k rows and the count goes to about 20 pretty often so it really takes a while).
I'd appreciate any ideas! Currently my code is working, but it's going to take a good part of the day to complete, and I'll need to run this again at some point!

Answer 1

I ended up finding a way to speed it up a little bit. I think this could help someone so I will share what I've found.
It's not the best solution (I would have preferred to just declare the object locally so my other functions wouldn't change it's value), but at least with this I'm not looping through 20 or so finds every iteration of the Do Loop.
Set Found = Worksheets("MasterScore").Range("j1:j50000").Find(NextQuestionID, LookIn:=xlValues)
If Not Found Is Nothing Then
NextAnswerRange = "j" & 1 & ":" & "j50000" 'The first search will be from the beginning
Do
Set Found = Worksheets("MasterScore").Range(NextAnswerRange).Find(NextQuestionID, LookIn:=xlValues)
NextCell = Found.Address
AnswerRow = Range(NextCell).Row
NextAnswerRange = "j" & AnswerRow & ":" & "j50000"
If LastAnswerRange = NextAnswerRange Then Exit Function 'This would mean we've reached the end.
LastAnswerRange = NextAnswerRange
FindChildren
Loop
End If
End Function
So we know we've already covered our bases with previous ranges since it always finds the immediate next. We just change the range of the search each time and it will find the next value.
A weird thing about this solution is that if you are looking for a value among range 70 -> 50,000 and you have the answer your looking for on row 70, it will actually find the next row (it skips that first one). But, if there aren't any rows past 70 that have the answer, it will actually take the value from row 70. That meant that I couldn't do
NextAnswerRange = "j" & AnswerRow + 1 & ":" & "j50000"
because it would miss some values. Doing it without the + 1 meant at the end of the document I would end up searching the same last value over and over (it would never go back to Found Is Nothing) so I had to put in the check to see if the LastAnswerRange = NextAnswerRange.
I hope this helps someone. I don't think it's the most elegant solution, but it's a lot faster than what I had.