• Our Mission

    Our Mission

    Our mission at PCD Smiles is to bring smiles to hospitalized primary ciliary dyskinesia, no mater their age; through the gift of a cheer package. Currently serving only The United States and Canada.
  • Request Cheer Package

    Request Cheer Package

    Know of a hospitalized primary ciliary dyskinesia patient? Please visit our “Request a Cheer Package” link and fill out our secured form to submit them for a cheer package today!
  • Donations

    Donations

    Our cheer package program runs on donations. To see how you can help PCD Smiles, visit our donations section today!
  • The PCD Artist Project is a collaborative effort by artist to raise awareness for PCD & support the PCD Smiles cheer package program. Visit our exhibits today!
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  • Nothing is Sacred when you have PCD

    Nothing is Sacred when you have PCD

    There are a lots of things that I’ve had to get used to as I grew up doing life with PCD. One of those things was learning that unlike most others I had no privacy. I mean absolutely none...
  • Nasal Washes, Yay or Nay?

    Nasal Washes, Yay or Nay?

    Are you Team Yay or Team Nay when it comes to nasal washes for you or your loved one with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD)? Nasal washes are an integral component to PCD care, or rather they could...
  • Disordered Sleeping and Sleep Disturbances in PCD

    Disordered Sleeping and Sleep Disturbances in PCD

    Disordered sleeping and sleep disturbances are more common in PCD than once thought. It’s not surprising given that you need to be able to breathe properly in order to sleep properly. Sleep related...
  • Can I live a Holistic Lifestyle with PCD?

    Can I live a Holistic Lifestyle with PCD?

    There are no studies into holistic lifestyle alongside a primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) diagnosis. There are however a few antidotal reports from the PCD patient population where patients have...

That’s is PCD for you. After five months of trying to fight this pseudomonas pneumonia at home, we’ve decided to get more aggressive and do an admit. The FEV1 slide is getting concerning to my team and my muciod pseudomonas isn’t responding to any of the IV drugs we’ve tried at home these past five months. I’m tried, I’m exhausted, my breathing is off, and I’m still sick. I’m also frustrated, for many reasons.

I lost my father earlier this month and things have gotten crazy. It’s been like hoarding cats every single day. I need a break, I need to heal, but mostly I need to feel better. I’m frustrated at spinning my wheels so to speak and get absolutely no where with feeling better. Our plan is to pull in infectious disease and see if we are missing something. My current team believes it might be a reoccurrence of my NTM and we just haven’t managed to catch it on cultures yet. That’s what my last go around with failure was, it was NTM abcessus stirring up stuff constantly. We’ve got some options to turn things around, but which will actually work remains to be seen.

In times like this I ask you to give your PCD loved one a break. They shouldn’t have to wrangle their tribe, ward off misinformation and gossip, and be all stressed out keeping everyone onboard. Times like these are seriously where you should be looking to be the less stressful person in your PCD loved one’s life.

Be sure to join us next week for another Topic Thursday.

Join our Facebook group Turtle Talk Café today, click here.

We have several ways that you can donate to PCD Smiles;

- Visit Smile E. Turtle's Amazon Wishlist

- For more information on how you can donate, please visit our "Donation" page to check out our "Do & Don't policies.

- Or sponsor a PCD Smiles cheer package today!

- To shop for your “Official” turtle care ribbon gear today, visit PCD Style or Smile E. Cove

Thank you for your consideration!

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