Life with The Leivas: Oh Christmas Tree

Friday, December 2, 2011

Oh Christmas Tree

This past weekend we headed out to find our Christmas Tree. Mike found a great Christmas Tree Farm not far from here (Shady Pond Tree Farm). They had a large variety of different types of trees to choose from. Olivia thought we should make our decision based on how the trees tasted, I thought we should pick based on smell, Mike just wanted to cut one down, and Peter was excited about the entire experience and was campaigning for us to have more than one tree.

We narrowed it down to 3 choices:

A Green Giant

A Carolina Sapphire

and

A Virginia Pine

any guesses on which one we chose? Check back tomorrow...

1 comment:

Wendy Leiva said...: Carolina Sapphire; Friday, December 02, 2011 6:42:00 PM

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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.