inCourage Vest System

Part of Sienna's daily treatment is chest physiotherapy.  This requires beating on the lungs in order to break up mucus that may be sticking to prevent the lungs from becoming a breeding ground for bacteria.  Most individuals with Cystic Fibrosis do CPT twice a day when healthy, three to four times a day when sick.  For now, we do it once a day at bedtime.

We've been doing manual CPT since she was just a few weeks old and honestly, it wasn't that bad.  Each night I would start her manual CPT as she cuddled close and within minutes she was sleeping on me.  I was able to successfully get through 30 minutes of CPT with little to no push back from her.  It made bedtime a breeze.  But once she became mobile...it was a completely different story.  Bedtime became a challenge.  CPT became a challenge.  I had to enlist Joe for help.  Our once quiet and peaceful routine became us chasing her around her room with the percussor as she read books, played peek-a-boo, and circled the ottoman to her glider chair.  She was happy, but we were stressing.  We were getting a minute in here, a minute in there.  We worried about it not being effective.  All we could do was try our best.

After several weeks of this, I emailed our CF team with a few questions and let them know manual CPT was becoming a real challenge for us.  It was music to my ears when our social worker responded saying Sienna was old enough for a vest and we should pursue getting one for her.  We were ready for this transition. We were excited for things to get a little easier.  But first, we needed insurance to approve since the price tag on a vest used for airway clearance is roughly $15,000.  I'm not going to go into detail around the hiccups we encountered getting this approved...but insurance did cover it and that's all that matters.

Vest time with dad

After reading about the different companies and testimonials from other CF moms, we decided to go with RespirTech's inCourage System.  Exactly one week ago, we received her tiny, little, pink vest.  We were excited for our trainer to come and for our first night of vest treatments.  I had envisioned Sienna wearing her vest, playing in her room, getting her treatment in without even realizing it.  But it didn't go exactly like that.  The look on her face the first time we turned it on was one of horror and confusion.  She laughed, she cried, she made noises I had never heard come from her before.  To top it off, I don't think either of us realized what an emotional night it would be.  I'm not sure exactly why it was.  Maybe the realization of how life was going to be now.  Maybe a painful reminder of why she needed the vest.  I don't know really, it just felt wrong.

We have started Sienna out with 20 minute vest sessions and are working our way back up to 30 minutes of chest physiotherapy.  Joe and I both sit with her and distract her from her "shakies."  We read to her, play with toys, act silly...all to make her laugh and forget about her vest.  We know the vest is getting CPT done better than we could be at this point and are extremely thankful for it.

Since treatments don't stop on vacation...here are a few pictures of vest time this week!

Keeping her occupied

Having some fun ;)

Sitting with mom