Ailment sidelines Kelley> Doctors can’t diagnose cause of coach’s problems

While members of Bangor High School’s baseball team take part in their second week of preseason practice and tryouts, longtime Rams coach Bob Kelley is home, battling a mysterious ailment that has caused him to be housebound the last five weeks.

Kelley has been suffering from dizziness and severe pain in the back of his head and his legs the last few weeks, but doctors have thus far been unable to pinpoint the cause of his problems.

“I’ve had a whole bunch of tests: an MRI, the treadmill, three different blood tests, they’ve X-rayed my sinuses…. just about everything,” said Kelley. “They’re still trying to figure out what’s wrong.”

Kelley, who also teaches physical education at Bangor High, said this whole thing began five weeks ago at the end of the school day.

“I had already taught five classes that day and I went to the office at the end of the day. I started walking out the corridor after going to the office and got real dizzy,” Kelley recounted.

The dizziness began shortly after Kelley got a sinus infection. He was taken off the antibiotics prescribed for him after having a reaction to them. His infection cleared up, but things didn’t get much better as he began to have spells where he was sick to his stomach.

Kelley said doctors have told him the sickness could be nerve-related and may be triggered by medication he’s taking for high blood pressure, a condition he has had for the last 13 years.

“This all could have been triggered by the infection. My neurologist checked for a lot of things, and he can’t tell me much, except that my blood pressure is too low,” Kelley explained. “They’ve taken me off one of my two blood pressure medications.”

The 60-year-old bachelor said it will be a week before he and his doctors know whether the cutting of the medication will work. In the meantime, the pain has left him fairly immobile.

“If I stand up for any amount of time, my legs are just in agony. Just excruciating pain whenever I stood up for an extended amount of time,” said Kelley, who said he hasn’t even been able to retrieve mail from a jam-packed mailbox.

“It’s to the point where you evaluate whether it’s worth the pain of getting up and going to the bathroom,” said Kelley.

Kelley, who said he felt a little better Tuesday, is wearing a device small enough to fit into his palm that constantly monitors his heart and allows doctors to get instantaneous readouts whenever he has a dizziness episode.

“I just push a button and the monitor goes back and evaluates the four minutes leading up to the episode,” said Kelley. “They get instantaneous readouts.”

Over his last 28 seasons as Bangor’s head coach, not much has been able sideline the popular coach as his teams have won seven state titles and 13 Eastern Maine championships. The Rams are gunning for their fourth straight state title this season.

In his absence, assistant coaches Neil Waterman and John Stubbs are running the team. Kelley talks to both over the phone each night.

“Nothing’s really changed. John and I are still doing what we’d normally be doing when Bob’s here,” said Waterman. “We’re still both assistants and Bob’s the coach.”

Kelley’s absence has been tough for veteran players and coaches alike. Waterman has worked with Kelley 23 years and Stubbs 24.

“Yeah, it is a distraction. We’ve been friends for a long time and we want to get him back. It’s not the same,” Waterman said.

“It was a big shock to me. It’s really strange not having him around,” said junior shortstop Tommy Waterman, Neil’s son.

Kelley, who will have another blood test today and see his neurologist again in two weeks, says he hasn’t thought about retirement and prefers to concentrate on a quick recovery.

“This would be the worst time you could pick to evaluate what your future’s going to be,” said Kelley. “We’re just playing it by ear. My health is my first priority.”