FOOD FOR THOUGHT

 

Raw Meat 

 

I’ve never been an eater of massive meals. Prior to being diagnosed with cancer in December 2015 I was a regular smoker, which acts as an appetite suppresser as well as a great way to get throat cancer. I enjoyed food, just in medium sized portions. After my initial treatment by Radiotherapy and Chemo I totally lost my sense of taste for about three months. I was also feeling the after effects of the RT on my throat so largely lived off homemade soups (no tomatoes as they reacted with my throat), and the good old Ensure drinks supplied on prescription. I’m not exactly heavily built at the best of times, but dropping down to the low 60’s kg wasn’t healthy. Slowly my taste buds returned, albeit with some foods tasting totally different to how they’d tasted prior to treatment. Marmite became a different spread, but still oh so lovely, and bread tastes a bit like cardboard at times, but generally things got back to some sort of normality. My weight gradually came back and we were probably eating a much healthier diet than pre cancer. No canned sauces, all homemade, lots of fish and pasta, along with a healthy dose of red meat.

Then came June 2017 and my introduction to being a Lary.

 For 10 days in the Churchill Hospital, post op, I was fed through a tube, then once I was considered “Watertight” I was allowed pureed “Food”, which was frankly god awful. I would take myself off to the hospital canteen and buy myself an English breakfast. Carol and I escaped one day and went to Sainsbury’s restaurant and had a simple but delicious lasagne. Anything to get away from hospital food. Once the tunnel was finished and I escaped for good I found that being a Lary and eating meals was going to be a challenge. A Lary means that the Oesophagus is now much narrower than it was before. This means it takes me much longer to eat a meal than it used to, which in turn means I lose my appetite way before I’ve finished most meals. I vividly remember the first time we ate out properly after I got home. Surprisingly enough we went to Nino’s, I wanted to go somewhere where I was “Mr Clark” and not some freak with a hole in his neck. I can’t recall what I ordered, but I can recall that I ate about ½ of what was on the plate.

Over the last three years I’ve largely managed my eating. At home I do almost all the cooking, so I can serve myself a smaller portion and get away with it. If we go out I’m pretty quick to spot what’s likely to be easy to eat. This is one of the reasons I love going to the Canaries as I can order tapas and manage the portion size.

Over the last three or four months I’ve noticed a change in my eating abilities. I’m really struggling with red meat, I love the taste, but it’s taking so long to eat that I then get a bit upset with myself for wasting food (of course Nev gets most of it subject to it not being covered in sauces). Anyone who sees my FB or Insta posts will see that I’ve been doing a lot of BBQ’s, mainly with magnificent meat from The Caversham Butchers. I take a huge amount of pleasure in thinking up dishes to cook, prepping them, cooking them and photographing them (I know, we need rugby back), but I’m struggling to enjoy the eating so much. I’m ok with processed meat in Spag Bols, Lasagne or Chilli’s. I can still eat fish by the kilo, and chicken seems ok. Maybe it’s time to revaluate the food I’m eating and to leave red meats for extra special occasions.

The last time Carol and I ate out was on 14^th March in Oscars Tapas bar in Corralejo.

Raw Meat On Thursday evening Nino’s is opening for the first time since lockdown. We’ve a table booked at 8.15, any slight nerves about eating out are outweighed by the fact we know Nino has taken every single step possible to make dining out safe for his customers.

As always, thanks for reading.

(Probably) to be continued…….

#Shoulder2Shoulder

PS – I now weigh pushing 90kg.