Our Phili-Pam

Best of luck for Pam. Who is going to stop you going off the rails today? Hope that she has left you with a timetable while she is out.

Philip, your Pam comes from good stock obviously. I would like to think I would have the same courage to go through what she has endured. Best wishes Pam.

Huge admiration and virtual hugs for you both, plus lots of healing thoughts and prayers.

Best wishes for Pam's procedure and that you Philip keep the stiff upper lip! Take Care.

My thoughts are with you Philip, not long until she is home again.

Hugs to you both. Les and Gilly.

Today, there is no cure for cancer. Cancer is the enemy from within. The most healthy of us have a cancer count of 35. Our healthy bodies keep it in check. As our repair mechanisms age, or become damaged, our natural defence & detection of the alien cells becomes weak, allowing the cancers to grow. Children, whose tissue is good, can still develop cancers, usually in the blood flow, leukaemia. Pam was written off in October 2018, given twelve weeks to live, as her ovarian cancer tumour is at a crucial tissue junction. Happily, the first batch of chemo that she was given matched first time. That's what saved her life then. Chemo is a toxin to our bodies, so as well as targeting the cancer, it kills the good guys as well. Our bodies can only stand so much of that bombardment. Neither Pam nor I are under any illusion of the implications. So many things have happened at just the right time over the last two and a half years. That's where our faith comes in, but that's for another day. I'm sharing this, not just as an explanation, but sharing amongst friends is itself therapeutic to me. We/I can only do what I can do, I'm doing my best to do it in the best way that I can. Thank you all.

Hi all, The subject of food has never been far off my mind ever. You name it, I like it. The delights of me walking into our home, greeted by the aroma of Pam's cooking are long gone. I'm the kitchen aid now, to call me a cook is a bit like having grandma at the controls of a Maserati. That so, I'm enjoying my new carer task. Pam's appetite is very light, but we enjoy sharing our meals. As I've mentioned previously, we are well provided by our weekly Morrison's grocery delivery, which includes a selection of small ready to cook meals, as well as prepared bags of salad & so on. Pam & I have always loved fish & lurking in the freezer was a box of Morrison's four chunky battered cod fillets from a previous delivery. So, two went into the oven per obstructions. Lurking in the fridge was one left over slice of No.4 cheddar cheese. That was cut into two pieces & once I was entirely satisfied the fillets were well cooked, I placed the cheese onto each fillet, then back into the oven for five more minutes. The cheese, like a cheese sauce falling over each fillet. Well, what a cracker! Ten minutes with a knife & fork demolished the lot. I will leave complex menus to those more able, but I'm already picturing the two fillets left in the freezer for another carer home meal. God bless you all.

The joy of cooking, eh Philip. It's a form of self help. Hats off to you for putting something together which you found enjoyable and keen to repeat. Food is a thing to be enjoyed, prepared and cooked with love and integrity and is one of life's pleasures. Here's hoping that you continue to develop your culinary skills. Bon appetit.

Hi all, I've often heard folk make exclamations "Oh I just fancy a ....." or wherever. I remember my teen job in the stores at the GEC in Stoke, the rush to the canteen at lunchtime, watching folk having chips with everything. Almost intrepidation as I poured gravy over my roast beef dinner covered with a liberal portion of chips. Yummy. I was telling Pam about this episode many years back, so you can imagine my delight when I arrived home from work one evening, to a full roast dinner, roast spuds, the lot, chips & gravy. Every memory came flooding back. I do enjoy food (you've noticed), not just concoction meals, but also the individual flavours of separate food stuffs. Pam's digestion struggles to cope with very highly seasoned food, like best quality sausages, so a tin of baked beans with sausages is on the menu for later today, probably with a poached egg. Now, there's no comparison with these "plutonic" sausages to the real thing, but I'm so looking forward to my dinner later.

Sounds like my sort of food, love chips and gravy. When I was in my teens (I can just about remember that far back!) I was at day release at the Butts. My mum's cousin worked in the canteen and they did a lovely cottage pie, chips and gravy and she used to give me a good helping. As for sausage, yesterday we had sausage, bubble and squeak and baked beans! Very good for the atmosphere. Enjoy yours, and love to Pam.

Hi & thank you, It's ironic having a conversation regards beans & sausage. I attended a lecture once about the subject of capital deployment. The lecturer spent the first half of the lecture on his experience with Bulgarian jam. The only conversations that followed the lecture in the coffee lounge were about Bulgarian jam, what the heck is capital deployment!?!?!?

If your capital deployment is ineffective, you end up in a Bulgarian jam.

Oooo, I love fish, so thanks for the recipe, Philip, I will try that with the cheese. You taught him well, Pam. xxx.

I bet Pam is so proud of you Philip