Thursday, April 8, 2010

anyone else ever been called an ENIGMA?

Well progress.....I wish I could be more excited about it but I caught myself another cold and feel like shit. My cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC (heated chemo) is booked for June 15th performed by Dr. Sardi and his team out East in Baltimore. I have been called an enigma by Dr. Sardi and Dr. Saad. I had to look that up in the dictionary.....something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained...a difficult problem.... For those of you who know me this fits me to a tee as I have been this my whole life!!
Take Pseudomyxoma peritonei as rare as this condition is and then add another rare disease called membranous Glomerulonephropathy my kidney disease,what do you get?...Mark Reinemann!!!! Two leading specialists in PMP Dr. Sardi and Dr. Sugarbaker have seen over 3000 patients and NO ONE has had kidney involvement like I have along with PMP, Thus being called an enigma! If there is anything positive to draw from this I will attract more attention from doctors,besides the normal PMP surgical team a Urologist and Nephrologist will be present to look after my kidneys.Another positive is that my tumor is of the less aggressive kind and should not be spreading as aggressively as other forms of tumors. Lastly I am in pretty good shape and have a strong heart but question the amount of blood pressure medicine I am taking. After I exercise about 30 minutes later my blood pressure drops very low and I am concerned and brought this up to my doctors.
Back to my cold....I have been sick since 1-20-10 with a upper respiratory thing and it was not as severe but always has been hanging around.Popping and cracking of my ears,cough and stuff.I have been volunteering and helping out with the South High baseball team which has been very good mentally for myself.Spring baseball stinks weather wise!!!! We had a double header last Saturday and standing 8 hours in mid forties,sleet and 15 mile an hour winds is not good for anyone! How do you think it is for someone with a compromised immune system? Yesterday Carlee and some friends went to the Brewer game which was nice and we got to see Trevor Hoffman earn his 593 save! After the game we had to run to the car about 4-5 blocks away in freezing ,pouring rain! The ride home drenched in wet clothes did not help anything! We had snow this morning so I am sure the game scheduled tonight and tomorrow will be canceled,so this is a good thing! I will have to weigh my participation helping the team with my well being physically.
Several PMPers and some of my friends have used a web site called caring bridge to share developments on their medical condition,and to receive support from friends and loved ones. I am considering doing this for my surgery. I have been looking for some pictures of myself to post on that site and have noticed a problem. The only pictures I can find of myself is where I am holding something I harvested while fishing or hunting! I am not ready to join PETA or Greenpeace but what am I doing? Here I killed one of God's beautiful animals in the prime of it's life ,smiling for the camera....look what I did!!! I am not so proud of this any longer.
MANY MEN GO FISHING ALL OF THEIR LIVES WITHOUT KNOWING THAT IT IS NOT FISH THEY ARE AFTER.....HENRY DAVID THOREAU
You start to realize what is important in your life,family,friends,good and bad times spent together...stuff like that. So please don't find it strange if I ask to have my picture taken with you in the near future!
I WILL ALWAYS BE AN ENIGMA!
WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT AREN'T WE ALL?