A most brutal week

This past week was one of the toughest I have encountered in a very, very long time. Between driving to Eastern Oregon to help set up new testing sites for work, this past week being the last for one of my most valued assistants, trying to help my friends Scott and Vanessa, falling several times due to deterioration of the nerves in my lower back and the severe pain that comes with this, I am burnt and very thin on patience and have little time to do what I want here at Patriot's Corner.

First about Vanessa. I am most sorry to report she is on a ventilator 24/7 and the prognosis has tuned quite dim, at best. She is only lucid for very brief moments and her kidneys maybe failing. I know she does have an Advance Directive with a DNR order already in place but this does not make it easier,e specially for Scott. His ALS symptoms have increased dramatically and he has been unable to work at all the last week nor has he wanted to any way. He has been by Vanessa's side and outside a miracle, is trying to steel himself for her passing. I am helping them as best I can and spent last night at the hospital with them. We took turns reading her poetry and Scripture from the Bible. There were a lot of tears as one can imagine.

Work has turned very tough as the last notice I received Friday as I was finishing up for the week was a notice that our program had been hit with a completely unexpected 28% cut in funding, STATEWIDE for all regions. This means I may only have three weeks of work left as my contract for this position will be running out of hours and with this new cut in funding, it seems very doubtful either of the other other two agencies who actually run the program will be able to hire me as they had wanted to do. So I maybe out of work going into the bleakest months of the year here in Central Oregon which is one of the most depressed in the entire country when it comes to employment. I should know more this week as the regional manager had to wait till this week to get any details on this very bad news.

There are other issues going on at work that I cannot say much about except that two really fine fellow staff members are up for dismissal after being snitched out for something so trivial and minor it almost makes me violent with anger. I just cannot say anymore but you all can imagine how this type of cheap garbage can poison a workplace to the core.

So please continue to pray for Vanessa and Scott. Miracles can and do happen and she sure could use one right now. If I am absent for a spell it has to do with what is going on. Thanks for your patience and loyalty!

PatriotUSA