Feeding a Kookaburra in my Backyard
For all you guys that haven’t seen a Kookaburra.
PeGsOn
Pegson1986@hotmail.com
H1N1 Virus and the Global CF Community
H1N1 Virus and the Global CF Community

The Sniff
The 2009 flu season is upon us. This year, the global cystic fibrosis (CF) community is faced with a more serious threat: the H1N1 virus. Unlike seasonal flu, the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”) is particularly dangerous to young people and people with pre-existing conditions such as CF. In a recent article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, we learned that 95% of people hospitalized due to H1N1 earlier this year were less than 65 years of age; and about half of these people were under 18 years of age. By comparison, in a normal flu season only 40% of those hospitalized are under 65 years of age.
Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that anyone at increased risk receive the H1N1 vaccination. Over this past weekend, President Barack Obama declared the H1N1 flu to be a national emergency in the United States.
If you or your child has cystic fibrosis, it is time to start making plans to get the vaccine which is available as a shot or a “sniff.” People who have asthma or who are pregnant should receive the vaccination by injection only.
If you reside within the United States, you should visit your CF clinic to receive the vaccine. You can also go to the home page of Flu.gov which includes an easy-to-use tool to locate a medical center near your home where H1N1 flu vaccinations are being offered.
If you live outside the United States, contact your CF clinic or your family physician to make an appointment.
The flu spreads easily through person-to-person physical contact and through the coughing and sneezing of infected people. There are a number of everyday actions that you can take to stay healthy during the 2009 flu season. The following list is put together by the Nassau County Department of Health (NCDOH).
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
- Stay home if you get sick. Limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
- Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.
- Find healthy ways to deal with stress and anxiety.
*cysticfibrosis.com
I personally have yet to have my shot..I’m ment to be having it on monday but I’m trying to get it tomorrow as the sooner the better considering I have wisdom teeth surgery a week tomorrow. I don’t want to be suffering flu si.de effects. take
PeGsOn
pegson1986@hotmail.com
Honey The Super Bug Destroyer ?
Honey The Super Bug Destroyer ?
Now I get a lot of emails asking a wide range of questions but one of the most common questions I get usually tacked on towards the end of the email is about what little tips, tricks and alternatives I use..
So It got me thinking, and there is so much that I do and I know other CF’ers do, that could be classed as alternatives that we give a go in addition to our everyday medications that we swear by but don’t have much scientific proof if any except out very own personal experiences to back it up…
So one of the so Called Alternative things I do/use that I believe has given me some improvement is Honey..
Now its an old wives yarn that Honey helps with colds, however there is a specific type of honey called Medical Grade Honey that scientists have discovered kills every type of bacteria thrown at it, including the antibiotic-resistant “Super Bugs” plaguing most hospitals and killing patients around the world.
Over time most bacteria have become resistant to the everyday common prescribed antibacterial treatments. But scientists have found that Manuka honey, as it is known in New Zealand, or jelly bush honey, as it is known in Australia, has the ability to kill every bacteria or pathogen it was tested on.
What’s more intriguing the bacteria researchers used to test the honey, including super bugs such as flesh-eating bacteria, none built up any immunity to the honey.
Now these studies have been carried out on external infections of the skin, so not exactly relating to the lungs or Cystic Fibrosis..
But this was enough to get me interested and I did further research and came across studies where Wounds infected with Pseudomonas, not responding to other treatment, were been rapidly cleared of infection using honey, allowing for successful skin grafting..
It was the Words “Pseudomonas” which made me really take these findings serious…So I looked up how Pseudomonas Infections of the skin are generally treated and what I realised is that the same drugs used to treat Pseudomonas of the Lungs are used to treat Pseudomonas infections of the skin.
So I purchased some Medical Grade Honey and Began using it. Believing that if drugs work in treating Pseudomonas in both the lungs and skin and since Medical Grade Honey had been proven to kill Pseudomonas in skin infections than its not a far jump to believe that the Medical Grade Honey may have some positive effects in treating Pseudomonas of the lungs…
So I have been using the Medical Grade Honey (Manuka) for about 6 months now and I believe I have seen some positives….In terms of more stable health, a recent sputum came back as scanty where I have always come back as profuse for the last 5 years….and my Lung bleeds have eased somewhat (knock on wood), and my overal Lung Function increased by 2 percent months after my last treatment (Extra Exercise also Involved)
Now all those positives I mentioned could be coincidences or maybe not, but Personally I believe someday in the future…maybe 10 years from now there will be nebulised solutions available that uses properties from this special honey.
So at this stage its not a magic fix, But I personally will keep using it…Medical Grade Honey tastes just like normal honey….The only difference is that it costs about $18 (AU) a jar in comparison to $6 for a regular jar of honey…Not that bad if you ask me.
So if your forever looking for additional ways to help your health than this may be something you can give a shot and if you feel it works like I do that’s great. But if not, Well at least you can say you eat Honey fit for a King.
Note: These suggestions are my own personal opinions that I formulated from personal experiences of myself, others and through research conducted using the internet..No suggestions I make should be used over your personal Doctors opinion…And normal medications should never been stopped in order to try alternatives…Alternatives in my opinion should be used as an addition to normal medications not instead of… PeGsOn pegson1986@hotmail.comMy Port-O-Cath History and Review
My Port-O-Cath History and Review

Port-O-Cath
I thought that today I would talk about the decision CF’ers have to face about getting a Port-O-Cath inserted through my own personal experiences with Ports…
If you have read my previous blogs you would know I have had my fair share of PICC Lines, my first being in 1998 when I was 12 years old..Between 1998 and 2001 I had roughly 20 PICC Lines and hated every second of it.
Ok There were a few reasons why my Doctors started discussing with my parents the option of having a Port placed, however the mains reasons were:
>>I was needing more and more IV treatments as my health was declining.
>>My veins were building up with scar tissue to the point that the surgeons were having difficulty placing the lines.
I also remember how horrible and strenuous the whole PICC line process was on myself, which made me reluctant to attend hospital appointments in case I had to be admitted. So The ease of treatment was another reason why a Port was being discussed.
On and off over a 6 months period my Doctors had been bringing up the idea of me getting a Port and how it would make hospital admissions and treatments much easier, although at the time I was going through my Teen rebellion stage and didn’t give it a second thought. That was until the day my Dad had the day off work and came to my Tuesday morning appointment…
Now as soon as my Mum said Dad was coming to the CF clinic I knew I was in for some not so pleasant news since Dad worked full time so it was usually just me and Mum who attended the Clinic..
My parents went into see the Doctors and I could here some discussion going on. I remember it quite cleanly, back than being a Teen I hated the world and was totally pissed off that I wasn’t in on the discussion….About 5 minutes later I was called in…My Dad looked agitated, which he gets like when things are getting a little heated.. So I was already on the defensive and ready for an argument being the Bitch I was back than.
Now basically what happened is this. I was told by Mum that I was going to be getting a Port placed. The nurse and Doctor than proceeded to show me what a Port looked like but at this stage I was not having a bar of it. I remember going crazy, screaming and yelling all sorts of obscenities about how I was not going to have a Port put in and how my life would be ruined..
Now in hindsight the way my parents and Doctors went about telling me was borderline ludicrous, you don’t just tell a 15 year old he is going to have a Port surgically implanted in his chest and expect for him to sit there all happy and content. What should have been done is the idea discussed in more detail between me and my Doctors allowing me….little Pegson at the time to feel more in control, however I guess everyone was clutching a straws and this was an attempt to make it easier for me to have treatments, make my treatments more flexible and eventually be able to do treatments at home, which was all geared to try and restable my declining health and also give me a better quality of life. However like I said at the time didn’t quite see it this way.
A week later and after considering to run away and live in my cubby out the back I was in hospital to have my Port placed..
So what is a Port exactly?????? Well a Port-O-Cath consists of a reservoir compartment (the portal) that has a silicone bubble for needle insertion (the septum), with an attached plastic tube (the catheter). The device is surgically inserted under the skin in the upper chest or in the arm and appears as a bump under the skin. It requires routine flushes when not in use to avoid blockages and is completely internal, The catheter runs from the portal and is surgically inserted into a vein (usually the jugular vein, subclavian vein, or superior vena cava). Ideally, the catheter terminates in the superior vena cava, just upstream of the right atrium. This position allows infused agents to be spread throughout the body quickly and efficiently .
I woke up in recovery which almost seemed like straight away, but In fact the operation had taken around 1 hour and 25 minutes and at the time I didn’t know but I had lost a fair amount of blood , enough for them to call for a unit of blood just in case, however fortunately the bleeding stopped and the Unit of blood was required. It was later discovered that my Liver disease had contributed to the abnormal bleeding so usually this amount of bleeding is not an issue.
About 3 hours later I was fully awake and back on the ward shit stirring like usual, I was sore but everything seemed ok. Coughing was excruciating and made you feel like your neck was going to explode however some morphine was able to keep the pain level under wraps (please sir can I have some more)
The way my Port-O-Cath was inserted, was through two 2 inch incisions. The first being the incision for the Portal itself, which was placed on the right side of my chest and the second incision being on the side of my neck where the tubing (catheter) was threaded and stitched into the vein before being reattached to the Portal.
The first few dressing changes were a bit tedious and uncomfortable but within a few weeks my neck and chest were healed with no more than a bit of a red scar that now is no more than a light pink blemish.

The Access needle from my very first IV treatment using my Port
Now the Port stuck out off my chest by an inch however at the time I was quite skinny (around 45 kilos), so if you looked really hard you could notice it under my shirt however now I’m 30 kilos heavier so you can hardly tell I have a Port even with a shirt off.
After having the Port placed, the most difficult thing to come to terms with Is having the monthly access which I time to coincide with the CF clinic date. A monthly flush with saline, followed by a HEP saline lock helps to prevent blockages thus aiding to the longevity of a Port. The accessing of the Port is done with a small right angle needle, it hurts no more than a blood test however if your like me and hate pain you can use Emla cream which contains local anaesthetic that numbs the Port making accessing completely painless.
Another Issue I came up against was contact sport, luckily for me I had finished Rugby League the year before so the risk of a knock wasn’t a huge issue but I have received the odd knock on the Port from Frisbees, Baseballs etc and It is extremely painful. The pain is similar to being kicked in the shin. However over time you learn to guard your Port.
So my Port had been working great for two years and I was really happy with it alround mainly because the Port was allowing me to be much more productive while on a treatment as I had two arms available unlike having a PICC inserted and I was able to attend school with hardly anyone noticing meaning life was able to go on without any of the annoyances that come with a PICC line.
Sometime around 2003 my CF liaison nurse when accessing my Port Noticed that the pressure required to push saline through my Port was increasing, however she could easily without issue withdraw blood from the Port..
Eventually my Port become increasingly more difficult to flush and not even an IV machine could pump medication through my port any quicker than 5 mls an hour, surprisingly withdrawal from the Port was unaffected, so it was clear that a blockage was not an issue.
To me personally the Port-O-Cath felt fine, it wasn’t red, wasn’t sore or inflamed at all. After discussions with the Doctors it was believe that maybe a kink had occured so I was sent for an X-Ray which highlighted an issue thats quite rare where the Tubing (catheter) on the Port had flicked around in the vein and was now facing against the blood flow which meant that any fluids entering the Port were having to compete against my body’s natural blood flow, however this allowed for good return of blood as the blood flow was heading straight up the tubing.
So the decision was made that when my next IV antibiotic course was needed I would go back into surgery and have the Port replaced. A few months later I went in and had the Port replaced. My surgeon was able to insert the new Port into the exact same place as the previous Port so there was no extra scars..
I was 18 at the time and coped much better with the surgery and recovery. So now its 2009 and this port is 5 years old and so far I have yet to run into any complications and hopefully with a bit of TLC the Port won’t need to be replaced anytime soon.. However if the Port does need to be replaced the Surgeon has told me that the placement will have to be somewhere else as the Scar Tissue build up from having two Ports would make if very difficult for a third Port to be placed without a heighten risk of infection.
My Feelings on Ports
I personally wish I had gone with a Port-O-Cath straight up and had never ventured down the path of PICC lines. While my Port does require on going care, it’s a small price to pay when I can have IV antibiotics going within minutes compared to within hours or even days with a PICC line.
I have never had an issue with a Port infection although I do know some CF’ers that have had infected Ports which usually can be controlled with antibiotic creams, however PICC lines also carry the same risk of infection if not more so.
So In conclusion if your having constant treatments and your in and out of hospital frequently than a Port-O-Cath may be the way to go, but if your veins are good and your relatively healthy and only require a couple of treatments a year than a Port is probably not necessary. In regards to everyday activities, you have to be careful while accessed but no more than a PICC Line, however when your healthy and your Port is not accessed you will constantly forget you even have it, just don’t take up boxing.
I hope this was helpful and not to boring. Lol
PeGsOn
pegson1986@hotmail.com
Health update and Pics from the huge Dust Storm
Hi Guys.
My blogs updates up have been a bit scarce over the last week or so….I went to the doctor after my recent set back and we decided to get onto any infection early in the stage so we are doing Tobramycin and Ceftazadime nebulised and Oral Ciprofloxin 750…
So Im on to day 4 of my nebs and my lungs feel really loose and chesty but I think that’s just the antibiotics getting down into the lungs and causing everything to shift..
I have to get myself in top condition for my Wisdom teeth surgery,, because anything below near my best is going to cause to much stress on my lungs especially after the surgery…
Basically over the last couple of days I have been watching a lot of tv and movies…..and cleaning up after the incredible red dust storm we had here…which basically dumped 20 thousands tons of top soil all over the state..
The dust storm which people have been calling Red Dawn forced me to hide out in door for 2 days because the Air pollution reached 15,500 micrograms per cubic metre of air. A reading of more than 100mcg/m3 is normally taken to indicate poor-quality air, and more than 200 is ranked as hazardous to human health under the air quality index .. So that really shows how bad it was.. I personally know of 3 CF’ers who had asthma attacks from breathing the dust and had to visit the Emergency Department…
Luckily I wasn’t effected to much, I’ll post some pics up below.
Another Quick Update – Sunday might before bed
This flu/cold or whatever I have is really taking hold of me now..I did one last big work out today…Under the assumption I might be reduced to bed for a couple of weeks with this bug and than a couple weeks on treatment to recover and today might be the last day for sometime I can do a good work out (Don’t be like my mum and say stop thinking the worse I’m just making a valid assumption based on past experiences…being colds knock me out of the park).…
So I did 30 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes non stop on the boxing bag…Really shows that even with the start of a flu/cold that pulmonary rehab has got me to the stage where I can still be a bit active while unwell….Hopefully that also means I will recover quicker……as I have not been able to use a boxing bag for two years let alone for 20 minutes straight….So over the next through days will be crucial as when I get a head cold while I feel shocking I’m usually ok untill it hits my chest…..
Say a pray for me even if you hate me guts lol….I got to be 150 percent healthy to have these teeth out….if no teeth out no chance of transplant..
Stay tuned for a movie review……
PeGsOn
pegson1986@hotmail.com
PeGsOn’s NON Cystic Fibrosis Blog – Fun Stuff about me
So I thought today’s post could be a mainly Non Cystic Fibrosis Related post…..Something on the fun side. I have included links to certain things that I believe may be unknown to some overseas readers…enjoy

Arron "PeGsOn" Pegg
About Me:
Name:Arron John Pegg
Nickname; PeGsOn
Born/Where: December 1986 at Belmont Hospital
Family Members: Joy (mum) Wayne (Dad) Brandon (Younger Brother- NO CF/19)
Live: Australia, NSW, Newcastle.
High School: Belmont High (Finish YR 12 in 2004)
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 173 CM
Weight: 85 Kilo
Fav Color; Red
Mobile I use; Samsung I780
Messenger of Choice: MSN
Religion:Catholic but Not Practising and will never Practise to the book. I tend to have my own beliefs.
Things I like:
In People:
Randomness
Loyalty
Trust
Personality that has substance
Analytical Thinking (If I ask for a pie and the pies are gone get me a sasuage roll…not nothing at all)
My Perfect Woman:
Quirky
Short Hair
Randomness
Easy Going and will hang with me mates.
What I do for Fun:
Go clubbing in town with the boyz – not so much drinking these days.
Shopping – love shopping for bargains
Making home movies – check them on youtube.
Racing my Remote Control Car and than spending my money fixing it
Practising and failing with PeGsOn Recipes
Sleeping in…..all day..
Go to the Movies
Food:
Hot Chips with Chicken Salt and Tons of Tomato Sauce
T-Bone Steak, real juicy, lightly salted
Bacon on the Barbie Marinated in Tomato Sauce
Baked Dinners especially Pork and Crackling mmmmm
Chicken Kebabs on the BBQ
Wedges and Potatoe Gems
Fish Fingers
Cereal:
Crunchy Nut Cornflakes
Weet Bix
Nutrigrain
Fast Food:
KFC
Oporto Chicken
Pizza Hut
Red Rooster
McDonalds
Hungry Jacks
Junk Food:
Fantales
Kettles Chips
Minties
Musck Sticks
Mars Bars
Skittles
Aero Bar
Dark Chocolate
CC’s
Bertie Beetles
Fav Songs:
Tom Petty – Don’t Back Down
Castaneda – Cyanide
Faker – This Heart Attack
Offspring – Hit that
AC/DC – Everything
Fiest – 1234
TV Shows:
Packed the Rafters
True Blood
Breaking Bad
Sons of Anarchy
Sopranos
Gilmore Girls
The Shield
Third Watch
Films:
Shawshank Redemption
The Postman
I am Sam
Forrest Gump
Drinks:
Coca-Cola
Sprite
Apple Juice
Pine apple Juice
Vodka Redbull
Fav Sports:
Cricket
Rugby League
Soccer
Boxing
Fav Wesbites:
www.news.com
www.facebook.com
www.foxsports.com
www.redtube.com
www.youtube.com
www.eztv.it
www.oneddl.com
www.oneclickmoviez.com
I love:
Sitting in the sun
Drinking through a Straw
Asking Random Questions
DVD’s
Busting a mean pimple
Ice Cubes
Sarcasm
My PJ’s with a mini horse and wagon on them
Plasma Tv’s
I hate:
Precious People
Pepsi
Hypocrites
Seafood
Burger King
Preachers – Forcing one’s morals onto someone else
Early Morning God channels wanting 50 bucks
LCD TV’s
Boring People
Sore Throats
The Words – Loser, Fag and Cystic…..(Personally I feel offended when someone refers to a person with Cystic Fibrosis as a Cystic)
I want to:
Shoot a Gun
Get on TV
Be able to Dance
Get married for the sake of it
Learn an instrument
Make a popular you tube video
Learn to keep my room clean
MISC:
I like Making home movies
My Parents take it easy on my brother even though he is a Biatch
I love sleep
Lip kisses not full on tongue in my lungs
I sleep with a doona but kick the sheets off
Glass Bottle coke is my favourite
Jack Russell’s are my Fav Dog
I was a huge fan of Hulk Hogan and have over 70 figures.
My DVD collection stands at 1123 DVD’s and 9 Blurays
Where Do I make my Video Blogs: Check the GoogleEarth Picture Below
PeGsOn
pegson1986@hotmail.com































