VCD Update

I thought I'd give the latest update to Madeline's Vocal Cord Dysfunction. She has done a great job during gym class. She says it is fairly easy compared to basketball season. She has gym everyday for almost a hour. Instead of softball this year she wanted to try track & field. She may try a women's softball league over the summer or go to several of the basketball camps they are offering. Anyway the track & field is something entirely new to her so she thought she'd give it a try. I contacted the coach prior to the start of the season to give her a heads up on Madeline's condition. As usual with these school coaches I had to leave a message with no return call made back to me. The coach did talk to Maddie though. Maddie gave a brief overview of her condition. She tries to down play the VCD so the coach would let her do more. (I don't understand kids sometimes.) She has struggled a little with her VCD and track. The coach is letting her set her own pace during the conditioning practices. She is complaining about being light headed on some of the longer distance runs. (We are keeping an eye on this and writing it down in her journal) Her doctor appointments are going really well. She was hooked up to this stress breathing test thingy last week. He showed her how her breathing controlled the 'stress'. She loves the fact that she can control this. I had already read online the technique, but the doctor was able to explain why this worked and why this was so important to her. He even had me try this. Believe it or not it was harder than the diagram made it look.