Hello! I want to thank everyone for your prayers and support during this very difficult time. It means so much to me to have your letters and emails.

My broken big toe has pretty much fully healed. It’s still a little tender now and then but basically healed. The toe nail is still very bruised and will take much more time to grow out and heal. I have yet to see anyone about the plantar fascia injury or the bone in the heel. That’s not surprising, as the medical care here is pretty much non-existent. The headaches due to the brain issues are getting worse as is the dizziness. It’s pretty much like having motion sickness all the time, which would be okay if it was due to riding a roller coaster or the tea cups! In 2005, I was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease (tinnitus and vertigo) and also a sub-arachnoid cyst in my brain. In 2017, when I collapsed, stopped breathing and was in the ICU for 2 days, the MRI showed the brain Chiari 1 Malformation. The right side of my brain is too large for my skull and is being pushed down into the spinal canal. It causes all kinds of problems and affects the cerebellum. The treatment is to take out a small portion of the skull to give the brain more room. Yup…that means brain surgery! I have spoken to health services here many times but they refuse to approve an appointment with a neurologist. I just have to suffer through the best I can for now.

That’s the bad news and now for some good news! I have remembered who I am. I have regained my self-esteem and self-confidence. I have been teaching some classes here and sharing my knowledge. I am playing the piano several times a week and have regained my talent (I’ve played since I was 4). I wanted to learn to play the guitar but due to the weakness and numbness in my hands and fingers I just can’t seem to do it.

I am still reading and studying the scriptures daily. I am so very blessed to be close to and feel our Savior’s love. I have always been very spiritual and have become even more so. I hope to share my experiences with others and my true love and compassion for all.

I need to make some life decisions soon as time is going very quickly. I don’t know yet where I am going to stay or be when I leave here. Maybe I’m putting too much stress and pressure on myself and need to just “go with the flow”? I’m a “planner” and like to have things in place and an agenda. A huge thank you to Steve and Anna for all their hard work in trying to save some of our material items. It isn’t a lot but it’s better than nothing and they did the best they could under very difficult circumstances. I also still need to go after and sue the awful women who stole and sold my beloved cats. Who does that to a supposed “friend”? We had homes and everything all put together for the cats and these people just flat out stole them! I know I should probably just “turn the other cheek” but I can’t let them get away with what they did. Is that wrong for me to feel that way?

Thank you again for all your love and support! You are in my thoughts and prayers daily as I love you all and send you many blessings,

Melissa

UPDATE:A vast majority of the ladies here at the prison camp find the current immigration issue a joke. Mothers being taken away from their children? What about us? We were torn away from our homes, jobs, children and families for far less crimes and total BS charges than these immigrants. The women here are non-violent and most are first timers that should have been handled civilly not criminally. This country has an addiction to incarceration and it is getting worse not better. For a very interesting article look up Harper’s Bizarre “The mass incarceration of America” (I think it was March 2015).

These immigrants are illegal, which does in fact make them criminals. So why are they getting far better medical, food and care than we do as citizens? Perhaps no one realizes that there are many levels of people in prison, most of whom are minimal risk and should be on home confinement or probation only and still with their families, working and being a part of society. I understand. Prior to this experience, I wouldn’t have given a “criminal” the time of day and didn’t care about prison reform. Maybe that’s why I’m here now, so I can do something about it and bring some awareness to this major problem.

One very sad example is a young lady who had a baby while here in prison. The baby was taken away from her 3 days later. The baby cried and cried. The young lady only gets to see her baby when her family comes to visit and the child cries endlessly. The baby doesn’t even know her anymore. There was no bonding time. She was separated from her baby and no ones seems to care? Why wasn’t THAT shown on CNN? There are other ladies here who have literally had to remove their own stitches from surgeries. Or have waited years for just a teeth cleaning, x-rays and basic medical care. And if we are lucky enough to get blood tests or other basic medical services, we never get a follow-up.

I don’t know who put together the national food menu but they should be banned from being a nutritionist. What part of nutritious does canned vegetables, white rice, donuts, very cheap oil, margarine and beans at every freaking meal is good for us? A lot of the ladies are now having gallbladder problems from the bad food and cheap oils. That’s why I have lost 65 lbs and rarely eat in food service. I cannot digest the cheap oil and margarine and end up throwing up. I pretty much live on apples, bananas (when they have them) and things I buy from commissary like nuts and peanut butter. Oh, and those items they mark up the price but only pay us slave wages.

Where is the public outcry for us? We are/were tax payers who were sucked into a very corrupt, out of control system. We were torn out of our lives, homes, jobs, communities and families. We don’t get even a fraction of the care or concern that these illegal’s are getting. Where is our support? Where are the protestors for us? Where is our special interest story?

Just my opinion about the sad state of this once great country…