Hi Donna,

I wish I could offer you a solution, but I am pretty much in the same boat you are. Like you, I have suffered a tremendous amount of loss over a period of many, many years ... so much that it has beaten me down. Not just loss of loved ones but loss of physical and mental abilities, loss of hope ...

People just don't understand how difficult it is to cope with even the most minor daily things when your body and/or brain are broken, and I don't know how to get them to understand.

My mother is a hoarder as are both my sisters. I had always prided myself on being organized, but when I became extremely ill many years ago and couldn't keep up with disability paperwork and was in and out of hospitals constantly, everything spiraled out of control. I haven't even been able to file my taxes for the last 2 years because whenever I start working on them, something pressing comes up: my mother is ill and needs to be taken to the E.R., I have a broken bone, I have to complete paperwork that is due by a deadline or I'll lose my benefits, my dog suddenly becomes ill, things in my house break down and companies I hire to repair them take my money, don't do the work or don't do it correctly and leave the house in worse shape, leaving me with more to repair.

I always wanted to move to Oregon, so I envy you. Does Portland have services to help people with disabilities? I've sought help where I live, but all I can get is a shower chair.

This is propably one of the hardest things I have had to admit first to myself and than to others. Both my husband and myself are disabled, our house has taken on a life of its own, and unable to keep up on the house work. My mental health issues and his physical issues have greatly contributed to the state of the home we rent. My children also suffer from this disorder of hoarding (children are adults), only one lives at home. I have suffered so much loss on so many levels beginning in 2003 and I believe that is when the disorder really began to take over my life. I have suffered form it for the majority of my life, however there have been poeple in my life that could help cover it up or motivate me to not let it run my life, those supports are gone. I do not let poeple in my home at this time. I have cut all social ties that would have poeple wanting to enter my home. I have lived without heat for 4yrs now because I do not want the landlords poeple here and because the oil tank in the ground in the backyard leeks oil and we would have to move for it to be fixed. Well I am ready to live this home and need help recovering, cleaning and organizing so that I do not take what is not necessary to a new living enviroment. I live in Portland Oregon and need/want help.
Sincerely
Donna