Starting school

[KayErin]

Hi my daughter is starting school next week shes 4 and has PCD was diagnosed around 4months old. I have always stuck to a strict physio routine morning and evening 15mins starting with excersise as this tends to make her cough up more and then onto blowing either bubbles bubble pep blowing games etc.

Now shes starting school im thinking my routine will have to change as we will be leaving the house at 8.30am everyday.

Has anyone got school age children who have to fit physio around school? She has her brown inhaler i was told to always give it after physio so in my head im thinking i have to get physio in before school so panicking abit!

Thanks x

[fionac66]

Hi .... hope your daughter gets on ok at school. Have you seen this pcdsupport.org.uk/what-is-p... it might help! I know it was difficult for us to get our two boys physio'd before school but doing something is better than nothing every morning if you can squeeze it in. Might be worth asking the physio next time you see them whether they have any other types of physio suggestions that might fit better into the new routine now she is a bit older. Good luck!

[shannielars]

Could you set her clothes out the night before, so there's no scrambling in the morning to find shoes and two socks, etc.? Or could you just set your alarm 15 minutes earlier. If you really can't do that, how about walking to school instead of driving? Would that be an option? Because just walking to school would be great for her lungs---you wouldn't have to worry about doing bubble pep or other stuff---walk as swiftly as you can, so that she has to huff and puff a bit, and that will get her coughing the junk up. If you do have to drive, you could always get her singing at the top of her lungs in the car; this usually will make us start coughing stuff up.

[shannielars]

We grew up in an era where everyone walked (or biked) to school unless you lived more than a mile away from it, so my sister and I walked every morning and home in the afternoons. We did a lot of coughing, especially on those days when we were running late and had to walk fast or run part of the way to get there on time. Tell her to get on the swings at recess and swing as high as she can, or go down the slide (climbing the stairs for the slide is REALLY good for getting us coughing. If there are monkey bars, she should climb those. Jump rope is excellent, and so is hopscotch (most of us will start coughing any time we bend over to pick something up.) Anything active will do it, even a pillow fight---if it gets us moving and breathing hard, it's physiotherapy for our lungs!

[KayErin]

Thank you. I dont drive so we walk everywhere but her school is only a 5min walk... i was always told to give her brown inhaler after physio so in my head im thinkin i have to do her meds at home so doing physio on the way to school would be the wrong way round? Luckily she is very active always playing outside and climbing i think ive been in such a strict routine since she was tiny that im over worrying now.

[mrsanz]

Hi, I'm a mother of a 4 yr old with PCD (still not confirmed by a biopsy). We do our routine when we come back from school, as we have been recommended by doctors, assuming that doing it after school will alow all the inhaled germs and pollutants to come out of his lungs.

We do hypersaline nebulizations and then all the jumping, tickling, laughing, inhaling and blowing.

We do this just once a day. We do not use inhaler.

Last year, before dyagnosis and physio, he was sick most of the time. This winter, however, he is doing really well, he's missing a week of school every two months or so.

Sorry for my english, I'm from Spain.

Good luck.