Camping with PCD

Where there is a will, THERE IS A WAY.

For some, this may seem easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Especially if you have a dope camper. But we old-school over here. We do car camping. This means we drive right up to our camping site and set up our tent to be our home-base.

When our wee babe with PCD was extra wee, I wondered how we could ever make camping work for our family. I mean…breathing treatments, sterilizing equipment, campfire smoke (???!!)….FORGET ABOUT IT! But when you are dealing with a life-changing diagnosis, you can only deal with what is right in front of your nose. One thing at a time. I found that as he got older, and our new routine became second nature, it gave space for figuring out how to do the fun things, LIKE CAMPING!

Let’s start with the fact that we bring our own fire-pit!

Yep. Every time we go camping, we pack our own portable, smokeless, propane fire pit. We got ours at Costco a few years back and haven’t looked back. We can enjoy cooking hotdogs and s’mores over a beautiful fire AND also completely avoid the stress that comes with dodging smoke.

BREATHING TREATMENTS

How we do breathing treatments while camping depends on what type of campground we get. If we are able to find one that has a hook-up for electricity, then we have the option of nebulizing and doing vest therapy outside. Outside, in my mind, is better than being trapped in the car.

If we do not get one with an electric hook-up, then that means we do breathing treatments in the car. Well, technically he does the sinus rinses off in the bushes then uses his inhaler, nebulizer, and Aerobika in the car.

We got this guy on Amazon. It plugs into your cigarette lighter in the car. This way we can nebulize in the car.

*If you click the link for this power inverter to order your own…I may receive some kickback from Amazon that I will use to help pay for my yearly cost of this website.

Next…

We do about 15 minutes of airway clearance using the Aerobika. This is a great way to clear out the lungs and is super portable. Just remember to clean it properly when you get home from your trip! For us this means soaking in a bowl of hot soapy water, rinsing, then sterilizing in our baby bottle sterilizer. If you have never used this device before, ask your doctor on how best to administer this breathing treatment. This can be done IN the car or outside of the car. Lately, our kiddo opts to do it IN the car so that he can continue to listen to Harry Potter “on tape.”

EQUIPMENT + LOGISTICS

Since we don’t have the means to clean our nebulizer parts after each treatment while out in nature, we are sure to pack as many nebulizer sets for as many treatments as he will have. For example, for a two night camping trip we pack 4 sterilized nebulizer sets in order to do one treatment when we get there that night, two the next day, and one in the morning before we have to check out. This is based on OUR routine of doing two breathing treatments a day. Yours will vary based on YOUR doctor’s recommendations.

HOT TIP: When it is time to change out our nebulizer sets with new ones, instead of throwing them away, we clean and sterilize them, and put them in a ziplock back labeled, CAMPING! This way, over time, we have lots of nebulizer sets for camping and traveling.

We always use a brand new ziplock bag to pack our sterilized nebulizer parts.

Same goes for our sterilized sinus rinse bottles

Thinking ahead…

We always bring several empty ziplock bags that we label, “DIRTY,” to have a place to put the equipment after one use. When we get home, we soak in hot soapy water and sterilize all the parts.

Be sure to pack enough saline packets for the sinus rinses that will be done (a few extra never hurts!), and enough vials of medicine for each nebulized treatment.

This is how we pack our meds! This is what we refer to as our “Clap Bag” (refer to previous blog post, Breathing Treatments for the Wee Babes. ), but it is technically a make-up/toiletry bag that I got at Target 10 years ago. The alcohol spray he uses to clean his Flonase squirter after each use. The spacer for the inhaler we also clean when we get home from the trip.

Don’t forget to pack the nebulizer!

and the distilled water for the sinus rinses!

Then we do our best to fit it all in one bag!

Don’t forget to pack a box of kleenexes too…but that goes without saying. :)

I’m sure there are a million other ways to make camping work for you or your kid with PCD. But this is how we made camping fit into our lives with PCD. I hope this helps you find a way to have a life with PCD AND adventure.