My pseudo code should have been...:

[code]
if request for specified files {
if file in memcache {
serve file from memcache
[color=#FF0033][b]} else if memcache error {
proxy to apache[/b][/color]
} else {
try to put into memcache
try to serve from memcache
if unable to serve from memcache {
proxy to apache
}
}
}
[/code]