The Garden Island “I found the lump while I was showering,” said mother of three and grandmother of one, Lori Patch. “It was October but I didn’t get a mammogram until February.” Patch said it wasn’t so much denial as
The Garden Island
“I found the lump while I was showering,” said mother of three and grandmother of one, Lori Patch. “It was October but I didn’t get a mammogram until February.”
Patch said it wasn’t so much denial as time. “I was busy with my everyday life,” she said. “I manage 20 properties and am a single mom.”
What eventually sent her to the doctor was a case of the flu. “After the doctor saw me and was leaving the room, he turned at the door and asked if there was anything else.”
It was at that moment that Patch realized how scared she was. “That was when I told him I found a lump in my breast.” Naturally the doctor scheduled her mammogram immediately.
“I was so scared I left the office without the papers for the mammogram and the nurse called me the next day to tell me.”
One realization that came with the discovery of the lump was how she never took time for herself. “I really wasn’t in denial. I just needed to stop and take the time to take care of me.”
Patch went to that first appointment alone. “That was a mistake,” she said. “Routine stuff you don’t need a friend, but for anything diagnostic, bring someone,” she advised.
After that first appointment Patch was never alone again. “Friends or family came with me to everything.”
Her journey began in February 2006 with that first mammogram. She would spend the next 10 months going through a series of treatments recommended by her oncologist, Dr. Williams. “Incredible,” is the word she stated repeatedly with regard to the health care she received.
Once Patch had been diagnosed with stage 2B invasive ductal carcinoma, Williams gave her five options for treatment. Her daughter and a friend accompanied her to that fate-filled meeting. “Before the appointment my daughter and I said we’d sleep on it before making a decision.”
“But I decided then and there — I didn’t need to sleep on it,” she said. “I trusted her.”
The treatment she chose to take was chemo before the surgery to shrink the tumor, then surgery to remove it and to remove lymph nodes, and finally the radiation.
Patch underwent eight rounds of chemo — a three hour appointment every two weeks.
“The nurses were amazing,” she said. “You hate to love them and love to hate them,” she laughed.
“Every time I’d go for chemo I’d count, one down, seven to go and so on.”
“I got chemo on Thursdays, the neulasta shot on Friday; be sick over the weekend and work on Monday.” Neulasta is a white blood cell booster.
Patch continued to work throughout the process. “I had to,” she said. “But I had a lot of support from my boss and the cleaning and maintenance staff.”
Patch received spiritual and emotional support, not to mention financial assistance from every imaginable corner of the community.
“North Shore Pharmacy helped me with my medication,” she said.
Assistance arrived in myriad forms, though.
“A boy walked up to my son when he was at school and said, we’ve been praying for your mom at my church. That boy’s church is in Hanama‘ulu and we go to church in Kilauea,” she said.
Patch utilized the many resources at the American Cancer Society before she began any treatment.
“It was a pivotal point walking up those stairs to the office,” she recalled. “I knew then I was not alone.”
One program she said helped immensely after she’d lost all of her hair was “Look good. Feel better.”
“They came to my home to show me how to pencil in eyebrows and how to put on make up,” she said.
With her hope restored she began the journey of healing. “I believe in positive motivation,” she said.
Having coached her kids in soccer, Patch is a big fan of all forms of athletics. “ESPN is on 24/7 at our house,” she said.
She recalled an interview with college basketball coach Jimmy Valvano. “He’d say ‘don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.’”
Patch took his words to heart. After the chemo was over she had surgery followed by radiation. She flew five days a week to Honolulu to undergo the radiation.
“Six and a half weeks and 66 flights,” she said. “I’m an Aloha Airlines Ali‘i diamond now,” she said smiling.
“HMSA booked all my flights and St. Francis Hospital paid my cab fare,” she said. “The radiation didn’t scare me as much as some of those cab rides.”
Her last treatment was Nov. 16, 2006. “I just celebrated my one-year anniversary,” she said. “Now it’s my turn to help. If you’re newly diagnosed, I want you to know there’s help out there.”
Patch is the guest speaker at the American Cancer Society fund-raiser, “Hoe Down for Hope,” Feb. 9.
