The lump on her neck was the size of a jelly bean. She wasn’t particularly worried and neither was her doctor.
Still, she made the rounds of specialists in the Comox Valley, Victoria and Vancouver. By the time a surgical biopsy was performed, the lump was as big as a golf ball.
Kymme Patrick, 49, is an award-winning actress, playwright, director and drama instructor. She never expected to be a cancer patient.
“Initially there was a lot of tests and waiting for results,” says Patrick. “But once the lump was diagnosed, they realized it was totally contained so they could get it all out.”
But after surgery blood tests said she still had cancer. A PET scan in Vancouver revealed two lumps on the other side of her neck and one at the base of her tongue.
“The tongue was the biggest challenge as they couldn’t get at the mass to remove it surgically,” explains Patrick. “Still, the prognosis was good, my general health was excellent and the cancer hadn’t spread, it was just in the neck area.”
A non-smoker, Patrick has no idea why she developed throat cancer. “Whenever I get overtired my voice and throat are the first to go,” she notes. “I guess that’s my weak spot.”
She went to the Victoria Cancer Centre for six and a half weeks of treatment.
“The centre’s like a well-oiled machine,” she says. “They’re amazing. My first name is Susan but I told the check-in nurse that I’ve never answered to that. From then on every nurse, doctor and volunteer I came in contact with called me Kymme. The care and support was wonderful.”
Like most people, chemotherapy made Patrick sick. She lost ten pounds in three days and never got back on track. She tried to keep her strength and weight up with soft foods like Jell-O and yogurt but the soon the radiation made her throat too sore to swallow anything.
“I found out that most people have 16 to 20 radiation treatments but because they wanted to knock the cancer out once and for all, I got 32,” explains Patrick. “By the end my tongue and throat were fried.”
It was a bleak time but Patrick was buoyed by the support of family and friends. “And the support from the theatre community and the Comox Valley in general was huge,” she says. “It really lifted my spirits. Sometimes I’d just be laying there and the light on my Blackberry would flash with a message from someone. That meant a lot.”
A feeding tube was inserted but Patrick still lost 30 pounds. And the biggest shock came when she returned home.
“I was so happy to finish treatment and thought everything would just get better from then on,” she says. “I didn’t realize my throat would feel much worse before it healed and that it would take weeks for that to happen.”
She was still nauseous even with the feeding tube. “My stomach had shrunk so much that I couldn’t ‘eat’ as much as I was supposed to,” she says. “And because I could only take in so much nourishment at once, each feeding took a long time. I’m still working on getting my weight and strength back.”
But Patrick’s well enough now to make plans and her goals are rejuvenating her spirit. On April 17 her community theatre company, TheatreWorks, held an information session for students wanting to participate in Summer Stage 2011.
“It was great to be talking about shows and being around kids again,” says Patrick. “I’ve missed that so much. I’m really looking forward to getting back to work.”
Plans are already in place to handle any potential problems. A headset microphone is a possibility to save wear and tear on Patrick’s voice. Her longtime thespian partner, Ross Stephanson will handle the senior students and talented teen mentors who have trained with Patrick will be on hand to help out in various ways.
For the junior students Patrick has prepared an original script, Once Upon a Time, which features characters from familiar stories. “Each child can step into their favourite character’s shoes from stories such as The Wizard of Oz, Curious George, Pippi Longstocking and more,” she says.
“It’s been a long journey,” she adds. “I had to keep reminding myself that being sick was temporary and that others have gone through worse and survived. I’m really looking forward to getting my life back and doing what I love.”