Life with The Leivas: The Great Purge

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Great Purge

One of the pros of moving every 2-4 years is that you get to do some serious purging! Throughout this process I've discovered my husband is a hoarder. The man still wears the same size shirt he did in High School and we had lengthy discussions over the weekend about how many Structure shirts he still needed. At one point we had a full scale debate--pros, cons, rebuttals--about how many fleece pull-overs a person actually NEEDS. After lengthy discussion Mike was able to narrow it down from 5 to 4. I donated 6 huge trash bags of clothes, shoes, and bags. But who's counting :)

Everything we own is divided into 3 categories....(1)bring in the U-haul, (2)get packed by the movers and delivered to us in New Orleans, (3)get packed by the movers and put into storage indefinitely. This is all great in theory but the reality is that our house is full of giant piles of junk.

1 comment:

Ashley said...: I too am married to a hoarder, who won't purge until we get paid for the crap we have! hahaha; Monday, November 21, 2011 12:56:00 AM

Post a Comment

MPS/Sanfilippo Syndrome

In October, 2008 Olivia was disgnosed with MPS III or Sanfilippo Syndrome, type B. MPS stands for: Mucopolysaccharidoses. It is a genetic lysosomal storage disease (LSD) caused by the body's inability to produce specific enzymes. Normally, the body uses enzymes to break down and recycle materials in cells. In individuals with MPS and related diseases, the missing or insufficient enzyme prevents the proper recycling process, resulting in the storage of materials in virtually every cell of the body. As a result, cells do not perform properly and may cause progressive damage throughout the body, including the heart, bones, joints, respiratory system and central nervous system. While the disease may not be apparent at birth, signs and symptoms develop with age as more cells become damaged by the accumulation of cell materials.

Babies and young children with Sanfilippo Syndrome appear normal, but symptoms begin to appear with age as more and GAGs build up in the cells of the body. There are 3 stages to the disease. Stage 1 the child begins to lag behind peers and begins to display difficult behaviors. Stage 2 the child losing his/her language, becomes hyperactive, chews on everything, and has sleeping difficulties. Stage 3 the child slows down, becomes dependant for all mobility and loses the ability to chew/swallow. There is no treatment or cure for Sanfilippo. Life expectancy varies.