Its good to know there are other people in our shoes. I came to Canada 6 years ago; I nearly didn't even apply for PR status because of my work situation (had a racist, ignorant, and abusive employer), and after 18 months, I got fed up and resigned. I thought my hopes for becoming a permanent resident were over because I was unemployed, and the chances of me being employed in the same NOC was slim to none. Three weeks prior to my nomination certificate expiring, I informed my provincial office of my situation to find out what my next steps were, and luckily my PNP stream was not employer driven, and my Provincial Nominee Case Officer (who was very annoyed that I had not not sent my PR application as yet), pushed me to send it right away. 16 months later my PR application seems to have been approved. My passport was requested by Ottawa, and I sent that yesterday.
Not claiming to be a success story, but sometimes you have to have patience, and determination, and not let anybody or anything get you down. We are all in the final stages of our applications being approved. Lets just take a deep breath and give thanks. We have come this far, we can't give up now.