i showed you stars you never could see

logo on way too expensive t-shirt at concert

(they only had XL, and they didn't even play this song)

wowee...it's been a freakin' whirlwind around here!

sat. - got back from vacation
sun. - rested
mon. - back to work, got pro-time tested (too high...reduced coumadin dosage), went out with toye and steph to celebrate toye's birthday at cactus grill
tues. - work, went to tom petty with cathi (see set list below), click here for a review of the show
wed. - took the day off, went to my chiropractor, had my chest x-rayed to track pleural effusion levels, ran errands, then crashed hard around 7:30pm

getting the coumadin dosage right is a turning out to be a bit of a challenge. personally, i think i'm okay now and either, a) don't need to take it, or b) need my dosage reduced.

after the concert i noticed these lovely red splotches on the skin near my ankles. i thought it might be a reaction to the heat, walking more than usual, wearing jeans/tennis shoes/socks, or perhaps the 5 beers i drank. tennis shoes: cuz of plantar fasciitis & all the walking...no more cute/sexy shoes for me. yeah, i'm a mess.

i didn't really think of the coumadin connection until the spots didn't go away. they don't itch or hurt or anything, but i did report it to my doc's office today...you know, just in case.

good thing i did. they said that it is indeed a reaction to the coumadin and that i should stop taking it for two days and resume taking it on saturday. i go back in on monday for the PT/INR test again. hopefully they'll figure out what i already know and cut my dosage permanently.

in the meantime, i'll have red splotchy ankles and need to avoid any sharp objects and/or anything that might make me bleed. coumadin and the accident-prone are not a good combo.

other than the ongoing clot saga, i am feeling pretty good. tired and achy everywhere, but what else is new?

i have now missed two chemo treatments on this 'chemo break'. can't tell much of a difference on a daily basis, but i certainly do not miss those 4-5 days of steroid/chemo hell every three weeks.

***

Tom Petty Setlist: You Wreck Me, Listen To Her Heart, I Won't Back Down, Even the Losers, Free Fallin', Mary Jane's Last Dance, Sweet William, End of the Line, Breakdown, Saving Grace, Face in the Crowd, Honey Bee, Learning to Fly, Don't Come Around Here No More, Refugee. Encore: Runnin' Down a Dream, Mystic Eyes, American Girl.

smarty pants me called it. when american girl hadn't been played yet, i knew it was gonna be the last song of the night.

cat and i never did make it to our seats. we were in our section up near the ceiling (basically the same nosebleed area i was in with toye & steph for the police), but our seats were in the middle of the row and we were like, 'we can't dance there!' so we stayed up on the landing with some other people and danced the whole time. it was such a great feeling to dance again.

have i mentioned yet that tom petty was my first ever concert back in '82 when i was a freshman at S(MSU)? he played some of the same songs as he did then, plus some newer ones. it was a really cool, full circle kind of moment.

but i digress.....

when he was into the 2nd song of the encore, a girl dancing beside me was all, 'he hasn't played american girl yet!'. i was like, 'it's coming next, just wait...it'll be the last song.' you could tell everyone was waiting for it, so there was no way they weren't gonna play it.

then BAM, there it was...and here it is...almost exactly like he did it for KC:

oh yeah, alright
take it easy baby, make it last all night
she was...an american girl

i don't typically listen to tom petty because of his lyrics, but he's got some good ones for that too. here's one of them. this wasn't played at the concert...too serious and not mainstream enough, i think. which is sometimes reason enough for me to like certain songs.

I remember you so clearly
The first one through the door
I return to find you drifting
Too far from the shore

I remember feeling this way
You can lose it without knowing
You wake up and you don't notice
Which way the wind is blowing

Don't fade
Don't fade on me

You were the one who made things different
You were the one who took me in
You were the one thing I could count on
Above all you were my friend

Don't fade
Don't fade on me

Well your clothes hang on a wire
And the sun is overhead
But today you are too weary
To even leave your bed

Was it love that took you under?
Or did you know too much?
Was it something you could picture?
But never could quite touch?

Don't fade
Don't fade on me

Don't Fade on Me - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers