CSC instructor upbeat about battle with lymphoma

 After taking some over-the-counter muscle relaxants and pain killers, but getting little relief for his back pain and then experiencing a loss of feeling in his legs, he gave up and went to Chadron Medical Clinic on Wednesday, Sept. 29.

“I figured I had messed up my back. I didn’t know how I did it, but that’s what I thought had happened,” said Kendrick, a physics and astronomy instructor at Chadron State College. “I was dreading the thought of having back surgery because back problems never seem to end once they start.”

After hearing of the symptoms, Kendrick’s physician, Dr. Ed Pelton, scheduled an MRI for him at the Chadron Community Hospital. It determined that Kendrick had a tumor around his spine in the middle of his back.

“Dr. Pelton called me at 11:30 that night and told me to get to the emergency room at the Scottsbluff hospital early the next morning. When your doctor calls you at that time of night you tend to listen. I did what he said, met with a neurologist and they started running tests. That’s when the bad news started happening. Right away, they determined with a CAT scan that I had a form of cancer in my lymph nodes. When they told me that, I knew I had to get fixed up. I asked them, ‘When do we start?’”

The answer was immediately. Although it was Saturday, a team of doctors was ready for action. Before the day was over, several lymph nodes were removed for diagnostic purposes and stents were placed in his lower abdomen between his kidneys and bladder to keep the fluid that was building up on his lungs flowing in the right direction. At 8 o’clock that same night, he was being given radiation in an attempt to knock out the tumor that had invaded his back.

“A lot of things happened that day, but that’s what I wanted. I knew there was no use waiting around,” said Kendrick, who has since received three more radiation treatments and three doses of chemotherapy, among other procedures.

Kendrick’s malady is “follicular lymphona,” also known as non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It’s a slow-growing form of cancer in the lymph system. He has since learned that having the slow-growing form is both good and bad. It doesn’t take its toll as quickly as the fast-growing variety, but it is more difficult, if not impossible, to completely eradicate.

Because of his reaction to the small doses of chemo that he received on Friday, Oct. 8, ten days after he had gone to the Chadron clinic, the first session lasted 10 1/2 hours. The second and third chemo sessions have come in three-week intervals and have taken 7 1/2 and six hours, respectively. The next one will be on Dec. 8. Altogether, six are scheduled.

He knows the chemo is having an impact. When he could pull out a handful of his beard, he visited Chadron barber Roger Dotson for a shave and a buzz cut. He’s also receiving Rituxan, a protein designed to fight cancer, and two types of steroids, Prednisone and Decadron, which are designed to shrink the swollen lymph nodes.

Amazingly, Kendrick has missed only two weeks of teaching at Chadron State, where he has 60 physics students and 42 astronomy students and directs five labs for them. His long-time mentor, Dr. Lois Veath, filled in for him while he was absent.

Besides his duties at CSC, Kendrick is taking an online graduate course from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to help him earn a doctorate.

“By using my time pretty efficiently, I’ve been able to keep up with everything all right,” he said. “I used to push myself. Now when I’m tired I take a nap. I feel good most of the time. It was a huge relief to have the stents removed a couple of weeks ago. I’ve got most of my walking skills back now. I’m not chipper all the time, but I know I can be happy or sad, so I’m trying to stay happy.”

Kendrick is a 1983 graduate of Gordon High School. After earning his bachelor’s degree from CSC in 1988, he spent five years in the Navy, mostly as an instructor in the nuclear power school at Orlando, Fla.

Following his discharge, he returned to CSC to take courses in teacher education and to work on his master’s degree, which he earned in 1994. He’s taught at least part time at CSC ever since, filling in wherever needed since he’s taken enough hours to have an endorsement in math, chemistry, biology and physics. When Veath was appointed dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the college two years ago, he took over her physics and astronomy courses.

Kendrick said he has received tremendous support from his wife Teena, a Chadron psychotherapist, and their three sons, Kasey, Nick and Sam. He also praises his oncologist, Dr. Vincent Bjorling, and the other medical personnel who have worked with him at both the Chadron and the Scottsbluff hospitals.

In addition, Kendrick said dozens of friends from throughout the community have brought food and sent well-wishes since word spread about his illness.

In his words, Kendrick knows he’s “not out of the woods yet,” but is happy he’s free of pain and receiving the best treatment possible. After his chemo sessions end in January, he’ll likely check in at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to see what’s recommended for the cancer that doctors are certain has spread to his bone marrow.

“I’m happy that the lymphoma is being treated and the tumor on my back should be okay now. The doctors are pleased with the way I’ve responded to the chemo. We’ll take it one step at a time. Maybe a bone marrow transplant will be needed. Whatever happens, happens. But I expect to be around for a long time.”