Hi everyone. I’m petitioning to retroactively drop a class due to some health circumstances, and I was hoping someone could edit my appeal because it is painfully long and I do not know what to cut down.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Edit: New to this website and posted it in the wrong forum -__- I will post it in the right forum.
I am sorry to hear that you were unwell this semester! I hope you are feeling better!
Anyway, I think the first paragraph needs to be greatly summarized. I would say something like this: “I was diagnosed with a chronic, autoimmune disease X on y date. I was able to control my disease with medication, but unfortunately, my disease became resistant to this treatment regimen starting on z date. As a result, I had to switch medications and suffered a severe allergic reaction. Due to lapse in effective treatment and an consequences from the allergic reaction, my coursework suffered this semester.” The academic senate committee will not want to read extensive details like what you have provided above.
Also, I think that you need to assure them that your disease is now under control and that you will be able to perform well next semester.
Hi everyone. I’m trying to retroactively drop a course I did very poorly in due to some health circumstances. My appeal is painfully long and I don’t know what to cut down. I do have documented medical reports of every blood test and interaction with my doctor as well as a letter from him matching what I’ve written down here, which I will attach to the petition.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
To the Academic Senate Committee:
I am respectfully writing to petition a retroactive drop of XXXXXXX for the Fall 2016 quarter.
I suffer from a chronic autoimmune disease called Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD), and was diagnosed in June 2015 due to extreme muscle dysfunction and fatigue. MCTD affects an individual’s prominent muscle areas and renders difficulty in mobility, causes debilitating joint pain, and is characterized by an overall feeling of malaise and weakness. Since 2015, I have been taking multiple aggressive immunosuppressants and steroids to defuse symptoms and suppress my immune system from attacking my own muscle cells. Treatments had been keeping the condition manageable until November 2016, when my body began to reject the medication I was under, and a sudden and rapid relapse of my condition occurred. As symptoms worsened, I had increased muscle weakness and fatigue from November 2016 onwards. Consequently, my rheumatologist was forced to switch to a vigorous immunosuppressant called Sulfasalazine on November 15th. Unfortunately, I suffered an allergic reaction to this medication, and had to stop taking it after two weeks, due to unbearable nausea and discomfort. These issues surfaced at a critical period in the quarter, causing me added anxiety and stress during midterms and greatly affected my academic performance. On December 2, my doctor prescribed Methotrexate, which is a chemotherapy immunosuppressant targeted towards Leukemia patients, but can treat some forms of MCTD. Taking a chemotherapy medicine without a cancer diagnosis is extremely risky, with many adverse side effects. On top of worrying about my final exams the next week (Dec 5 - 9), I was extremely stressed and anxious about being on a medication intended for Leukemia patients. During the week of December 3- December 10, I experienced severe stomach pain, nausea, and loss of appetite, conditions which made it hard for me to focus on studying and performing to the best of my abilities. The sudden relapse of my condition along with the new medications and its side effects created an environment where it was hard for me to focus on my coursework at a pivotal point in time.
Despite these conditions, I took extra measures on my own to attempt to better my performance. After attending every lecture I could despite progressive illness, I created a study group with two students in the course who were doing well, xxxxx and xxxxx , went to not only my assigned, mandatory discussion, but an extra discussion taught by another TA in efforts to bring my grade up. Since these extra measures were being taken, and because I did not want to drop the course prematurely and delay graduation, I did not drop the course before the deadline. In hindsight, dropping the course factoring in my health circumstance would have been the better move, but I was anxious to finish strong.
To ensure this situation will not rise again despite chances of future relapses, the first step I will take for the Winter 2017 Quarter is to go to office hours of difficult courses during Week 1 and ask the question, “I know this can be a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?’’, as well as explain my medical situation from the first day of class to ensure that the Professor is well aware of potential circumstances and can offer the best guidance and navigation throughout the course of the quarter. This was a fundamental mistake I made this quarter, as I was too embarrassed to ask for help so late in the quarter, and relied on my own methods to make amends in this class rather than seeking help from the resources provided by the Professor and the University.
The second step I have taken is to set up individual appointments at the Student Counseling and Health Services at North Hall, to ensure I have counseling in case another relapse surfaces during the quarter to help me manage the stressors of being sick on top of having coursework, deadlines, and exams.
The last and final step I have taken is to email my professors and visit them during office hours next quarter to review the final and midterm exams and troubleshoot as to where I went wrong in the methods I took this quarter in both studying and communicating my difficulties.
I strongly believe that my perseverance in the face of failure represents a strong drive to succeed. Living with a chronic autoimmune disorder means dealing with unexpected circumstances, but I am confident that taking these extra steps will provide me with the right tools to manage my condition as well as my coursework.
This letter serves as my formal petition for a retroactive late drop from XXXXX and my explanation of the circumstances.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best,
HC
Is it the entire semester or one course you want to retroactively withdraw from? It wasn’t that clear to me. If it is only one course you didn’t explain why this class proved to be more of a problem as opposed to your other classes. And I agree that you should shorten the description of your illness.
Regardless of the outcome, I wish you good heath going forward.
Hi, thank you guys for your responses and concern! I’m feeling much better now as the medication is stabilized in my body and I’m reacting better to the dosage. I want to retroactively drop from this one course as it had only one midterm and one final, both during two weeks where I was extremely sick. I’e tried to shorter the paragraph even more, and the reason it was so detailed is because I wanted it to correlate with the letter from my rheumatologist and the blood tests I will attach. Here is another shortened version of the first paragraph, if I need to shorten it more, let me know:
I also do not know how to assure them that it is under control and where to place that, so if you could help me with that, it would be greatly appreciated.
I was diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disease called Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD) in June 2015 due to extreme muscular dysfunction and fatigue. MCTD affects an individual’s prominent muscle areas and renders difficulty in mobility, causes debilitating joint pain, and is characterized by an overall feeling of malaise and weakness. I was able to control my disease with immunosuppressant medication, but unfortunately, my disease became resistant to this treatment regimen starting in November 2016. As a result, I had to switch medications to a more aggressive medication called Sulfasalazine, from which I suffered a severe allergic reaction on November 15th. Due to a lapse in effective treatment and consequences from the allergic reaction, my coursework suffered this quarter. On December 2, my doctor prescribed Methotrexate, which is a chemotherapy immunosuppressant targeted towards Leukemia patients, but can treat some forms of MCTD. During the week of December 3- December 10, I experienced several side effects severe stomach pain, nausea, and loss of appetite, conditions which made it hard for me to focus on studying and performing to the best of my abilities on the final exam for this course, which happened to be my first final of the week, on December 5 at 10 AM. The sudden relapse of my condition along with the new medications and its side effects created an environment where it was hard for me to focus on my coursework at a pivotal point in time.
And the second paragraph has also been edited to reflect why this class was much more of an issue than any of my other classes. This course only had one midterm and a final, both around the time that I fell very ill. I’m not sure if I should mention that/how to integrate it.
Despite these conditions, I took extra measures on my own to attempt to better my performance. After attending every lecture I could despite progressive illness, I created a study group with two students in the course who were doing well, went to not only my assigned, mandatory discussion, but an extra discussion taught by another TA in efforts to bring my grade up. Since these extra measures were being taken, and because I did not want to drop the course prematurely and delay graduation, I did not drop the course before the deadline or request an Incomplete. In hindsight, dropping the course factoring in my health circumstance would have been the better move, but I was anxious to finish strong and meet my major requirements.
I was dx’ed with lupus and RA (it has been changed to something like undifferentiated connective tissue disease because I have so many overlapping symptos) my first semester of grad school so I understand completely what you’re going through. So first, let me give some air hugs.
Second, have you tried speaking with your professors this semester yet? I saw that you talked about going to talk to profs next semester but I didn’t see anything about this current semester. They might be able to help you.
Third, I would really, really consider dropping down to part time. You may feel like you’re under control but flares are often due to stress (which is likely why you flared up in Dec around finals time- I’m in a full-blown flare right now, too).
Fourth, talk to the ADA office at your school. Get documentation on your problems and that can help you considerably as you go forward.
Please feel free to PM me if you’d like to get more advice (or just vent- I’m good for listening to vents!) about how to help manage this BS condition.
@romanigypsyeyes thank you so much for your post! Autoimmune diseases are so prevalent but no one seems to know about the difficulties and hardships associated with them.
I tried emailing my professor after the final but he was very unhelpful and kind of rude about how I had not come to him earlier to discuss this. This was mainly my fault because I really thought I could handle the flare ups and the schoolwork but I was also taking 21 quarter units this quarter. He basically said tough luck. I think the Senate committee is in charge of my case though, so hopefully they will think differently.
I was part time for a good chunk of last year, and it was fine because the medication was keeping me stabilized and I even did a finance internship over the summer and the stress didn’t cause me to flare up. I really want to graduate in Spring 2017, so going part time for the next two quarters would really delay that…I’ll have to see how I feel in the next month to consider that. 
Do you think I should mention that I will be documenting my medical issues with ADA in my letter, or is that unnecessary?
Ouch on the response from the professor. Yes, 21 units is WAY too much while you’re dealing with this… especially if you’re newly dx’ed and they’re still adjusting meds.
I don’t think it can hurt to mention that you’re going through the process of getting disability accommodations. Though I would actually be going through the accommodation process if I wrote that.
Just remember that college is not a race and it’s possible that the more you push yourself, the farther away the finish line gets.
I wish you luck! Unfortunately, you’re right about people not understanding autoimmune diseases. It’s quite hard to explain to the prof that “yes, I realize I look ok and feel ok today but tomorrow I might be in too much pain to get out of bed.” Too many think that it’s just an excuse to be lazy or something. I always want to be like “spend 5 minutes in my body. I WISH it was just an excuse to be lazy!”
/rant
I hope others chime in on the appeal letter. You might want to post this in the parents forum as they are often helpful. 