Morgan wasn't making much progress with the "incentive deep breathing exerciser" she was given to blow into (the kind that you have to inhale big enough to elevate and suspend the balls in) and sure enough, she started to develop pneumonia. We had to get creative and here's what we came up with:

• We had her blow through a straw and try to make balloons move, or
• Blow gauze pads across the TV table
• Then we turned the inhale device upside down which reverses the process-instead of inhaling to lift the balls, you exhale to lower the balls. Admittedly, this isn't as effective because it's not how this apparatus was intended to be used, but it was better than nothing.

I bought her a sturdy toy grocery cart and some toy packaged foods and we walked the halls e-n-d-l-e-s-s-l-y "shopping" for groceries. She used the cart to stabilize her (like a walker) and one parent would push her IV pole while the other one pretended to "shop" with her. She'd just imagine what she wanted or had on her grocery list and we'd go "find" it on the shelves--which were located up and down the hospital hallways and waiting rooms (it was a big grocery store!).

One time we decided to make our favorite Friday-night pizza and went shopping for all the ingredients. We'd name each thing we needed (flour, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil, tomato sauce, etc. Yes, we made this pizza from scratch!) and "pick it up" off the shelf.

Her spirits improved and we all broke the monotony of sitting in the room. By helping her get healthier, we shortened her hospital stay, reduced the need for X-rays, antibiotics, and staff time. Best of all, she recovered more quickly and had a bit of fun doing it. As for myself, I have some sweet memories of plucking groceries off the invisible shelves each time I walk up those hallways and the pleasant thoughts balance the less positive ones.

Rachel got bored with the hospital breathing thing and even with bubbles pretty quickly after her first surgery. She was even less interested after her second surgery—so we brought in a harmonica! She loved it and would use it as long as we'd let her! She also loved the hospital playroom so much that she was up walking pretty quickly. (She liked it so much that she's upset that her next scheduled surgery is outpatient!)

Another idea for encouraging deep breathing is to use bubbles. Children love to blow (and pop!) bubbles, and I know many that would spend an hour doing it! --Kathleen M.

I used a variation of the excellent 'shopping cart' technique with my son, Ben. During one hospitalization, I stowed daily gifts up at the nurse's station so that he had to walk to get them. Chest tubes or no, he wanted the daily game or puzzle book, so off he went!--Pam H.

We found Blo-pens did the trick in getting Tyler to do deep breathing. The docs liked the idea and it worked wonders.

We found that when our son Shane had open chest surgery at 15-months-old—blowing on a musical recorder did the trick for a breathing exercise. He loved the LOUD! Noise that he could do all by himself