h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey Bels, remember, "google is your friend" --> http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/recipes/recipe77.shtml

Not too good earlier today, actually, az, - but starting to feel better now

Mmmm... pine nuts... I love pine nuts. Specially in salads, or with pasta.

Carrot sounds good too. I guess anything that goes well in cake should be good in ice cream too.

Still thinking of you. I guess the ups & downs are inevitable.

'anything that goes well in cake should be good in ice cream too'

Hmmm - apple? Oh, here's one - fish (fishcakes?!)

hi again sweetie,

Sorry to hear you've been having a difficult day. A couple more of these for what they are worth from this distance. Anyhow, glad to hear things picked up for you later on today.

I also adore plne nuts in pasta and salads. Have yet to try pine nut icecream. To be honest, I think I only ever eat icecream maybe twice a year. Don't have much of a sweet tooth (thank god or I'd probably weigh about 300 pounds by now). Much prefer or spicy nacho chips! Salty and crunchy stuff for me!

So when I do get around to having some icecream I very boringly go for vanilla - my favourite. But I mean REAL vanilla icecream, homemade with real vanilla in it. Not just a bit of vanilla extract thrown in.

Anyhow, will check in again tomorrow.

much love,
az

BROWN BREAD ICE CREAM


3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 cups light cream
1 1/2 cups dried Boston brown bread crumbs
3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir together, until well mixed, sugar, salt and slightly beaten
egg yolks. Add light cream to egg yolk mixture and cook, stirring
constantly, in top of double boiler until mixture coats a spoon.
Cool. Soak brown bread crumbs in heavy cream for 15 min. Add
vanilla and bread crumb mixture to egg yolk mixture. Churn-freeze.
Makes 1/2 gallon


<<Have no idea what dried Boston brown bread crumbs are! Perhaps dried Irish soda bread would be something similar?

az

I hope you have an hour or two so good it temporarily wipes out the memory of todays earlier hours.

I've had brown bread ice cream quite often here in Ireland - there's one small company that was selling it commercially at one stage. and as far as I know the breadcrumbs used here are always brown soda bread, not yeast bread.

I used to make some lovely honey and ginger ice cream with grated fresh ginger.



Azara

buenos días Bel!

How are you feeling today? Have you tried making brown bread icecream yet? I noticed after posting the recipe I'd found that someone else had previously sent you a link for another recipe. Ah well, perhaps you can try both and see which one you prefer. I'd go with Azara's advice and use brown Irish soda bread crumbs myself.

(hi Azara - wow, we have very similar nicknames - is yours Irish? Mine is Spanish for orange blossom, my favourite flower).

Just remembered a link I wanted to send you Bels. Will be right back.

az

I'm back!

Have you ever heard of Essiac? It is a natural product first developed in the 1930's for assisting in the treatment of cancer patients. It does not claim to cure cancer but is used to help build up the body's natural immune system. Anyhow, you can check out these two links if you like:

http://www.essiacinfo.org

http://www.essiac-reperin.com



az

OK, I've done another update. The dates are getting skewed, but I've put this one under 11 June, so you need to find A1050986 and scroll down to, or search for, 11 June 2003.

There'll be more, I hope, in due course.

Comments and feedback on the stuff I'm writing would be much appreciated, of course. Even though this entry is not officially up for review, you can still feel free to comment on the content, style, whatever. I've no idea if I'd do anything about it, you understand, but it would be nice to know

Bels

Up to your usual standard Bels - so the drugs are having less effect on your brain than the alcohol.

I'd like to just say how much I admire and appreciate your courage in putting all this down before us. We've never met, though one day we may, only exchanged comments in a few postings, yet I feel more intimately connected to your life than I do to people I've known for years.

All the best.

McKay -

>>the drugs are having less effect on your brain

To be honest, I've been trying to write that section for the last three weeks and have only just managed to do it. I was able to do it in the last couple of days because I was in the middle of my chemo 'week off' and though the side effects persist, there was a psychological boost just because I wasn't having to take the damn stuff twice a day. I just felt it had to be nicer when you stop.

Today I started an intensive course of radiotherapy (which I haven't written up yet) and in a couple of days I resume the chemo on top of that, so don't expect a great deal over the next few weeks. But we'll see if we can't crank the old grey cells into action every now and again. Can't have them getting rusty.

Anyway your comments are extremely kind, though I have to say they are wildly inaccurate as to the amount of 'courage' involved. It was a bit like stage fright, and once I had taken the initial plunge it ceased to be an issue for me.

I'm sure it will be a pleasure to meet you. I was at the summer meet a couple of days ago and perhaps we might meet at a future event of that kind.

Many thanks to you.

Bels

If it's any consolation Bels, the radiotherapy won't have any noticeable side effects for a few weeks, then, just remember we're here for you

Thanks, Granny. I think it depends on the dosage, among other things - but we'll have to wait and see.

I'm going to start checking to see if I glow in the dark

Hi Bels,

I'm hoping you cope with the radiation treatment as well as my dad did. Dad's first reaction to the radiation was redness and swelling around the treatment area. This was his throat so everyone could see it. This seemed to be his biggest problem - he felt everyone was staring at it. He did not seem to be affected by it in any other way until the treatment stopped. This, of course doesn't mean he wasn't keeping some things to himself but I don't think he was. When any of us went to visit him (he was in a residential hospital in Sydney, we are in Canberra) he walked us (with baby in backpack) to exhaustion. When his treatment was finished and he was back at home he started getting tired and falling asleep in his chair.

So hopefully the radiation will help you immensely and not have too much effect on the rest of your body. And at least you'll be able to cover up your treatment site.

Best wishes to you, Mrs Bels and all the baby bels.
Stay well, stay positive,

Ythika

& 4bels

Hi Bels, just popping by to share a

I hope the radiation treatment goes well for you. I understand it's a lot less unpleasant than the chemotherapy.

Good luck

F

Hi Bels,

I finally got around to reading your detailed account. Somehow I assumed you were female - hard to tell from this distance and in this light but that's no excuse. Sorry.

Your story is sad but uplifting - thank you for sharing it with us. That must have taken great courage.

I hope things are going well for you right now.

Take care.

F

No problem at all. Some people on this site do assume I'm female. I find that fascinating. It can only be because they have some idea that 'Bels' is a female name, but since I don't know anyone of that name, male or female, to me it's neutral. It's actually short for Belshazzar (who was definitely male, though a very nasty one), which is what I originally logged on as, till I found people had difficulty spelling it so I shortened it.

As regards radio vs. chemo, first of all there are a lot of different chemo treatments, with different side effects. Then the experience of radiotherapy would be rather different depending on where you had it. I mean it must be pretty unpleasant having your external sex organs irradiated, for example, whether you are male or female. And if it's somewhere around the head or neck area you have to wear a tight-fitting mask to hold your head in position, which must be very uncomfortable, not to mention claustrophobic.

So not only are there all these differences, but each patient is unique and will respond in their individual way. In other words, it's quite impossible to generalise about these things. I mention this because people don't always appreciate this and it's good to know.

In my case the radiotherapy is definitely a worse experience than the chemo I'm getting, and I've been warned it will lead to worse side effects too, particularly since it is my pelvic area that is getting hit.

On the other hand you have to appreciate that only a proportion of bowel tumours can be treated by radiotherapy, and the fact that mine can is to me a big plus. Really. In my case the chemo and the radio treatments potentiate each other, and as long as I can cope with the unpleasantness for the limited period needed, I really welcome it. And I'm confident that I will be able to cope, so that's fine.

Anyway I hope that answers the questions that I'm not sure anyone has asked!

And about how I feel at the moment - quite positive. The tide has already begun to turn - ever so slightly, but I've discussed this with Onco and it isn't just wishful thinking: the treatment is starting to work, as he expected. So things are going in the right direction.

Bels

Hi Bels,

I'm pleased you are seeing some improvement - I have some personal experience here (a close friend) so believe me when I say I'm right there with you.

So the bad news is the radiotherapy is horrible ... and the good news is they can give it to you?

You're a better man than I, Gunga Din.

My friend had chemo- and radio- and neither was particularly pleasant but the chemo- was worst. He wanted to know why they were going to *wreck* (he used a stronger phrase) his immune system in order to treat him. I guess, as you say, everyone is different.

Your Dr Onco sounds like a good ally. Tell him there's 20,000 Hootooers standing beside him ...

Good health.

F