special accomodation

[simcha511]

Has anyone gone to school while on treatment? I am taking one grad class and have asked to make a group presentation early rather than later in the evening and also to start earlier on the final exam so that I am not still testing at 8p at night - when I tend to crash physically. Sent to prof yesterday am and have heard nothing back as yet. Question is twofold:
- does anyone have any experience asking for special accomodation on treatment in any environment and how did this go
- do my requests above seem reasonable to ask for?
I have always been healthy so this is my first time ever needing to ask for anything special -- interested in input on this.

[simcha511]

You guys are awsome -- I will definitely call my doc today -- that's a good proactive step instead of letting myself get all worked up about how the prof might or might not respond.

[portann]

Great idea from Eureka.

I had to explain why I wanted an extension for something during tx and what worked best was a simple doctor's note.

In fact, I got two, one from my family doc and one from the hepa.

No problems after that and no frustrations in explaining it to people who had no clue. Worked really well and it was surprising how seriously they took 'notes'.

[eureka254]

Having seen what this treatment can do to people, I think you're definitely justified in making a request, and shouldn't hesitate to ask for help (as I recall, you've been pretty anemic).  However, if the professor has the general population's knowledge of hep c and treatment, I would be concerned that he may not be sympathetic to the 'need' for special accommodation.  I'm inclined to think it's worthwhile to see if your doctor would provide a generic 'note' for the period of time you're treating, that way it'd be hard for the prof not to be 'accommodating.'  Good luck, I hope your prof is understanding! ~eureka

[simcha511]

Thanks very much everyone for your input -- have not heard back from professor yet but hope that he will be able to be a bit flexible.

[ilovcoffee]

When I did my first treatment 8 years ago did ask for accomodations and got them fallow your body and do the best you can. When people have the facts about this they usually want to help, good luck and don't be shy to ask for help.

[nygirl7]

It sounds reasonable to me but perhaps the teacher needs time to verify it medically or something.  You have a right to ask, if it becomes an issue you could always have your doctor write a letter verifying it all for you so that he understands just how wiped out one can be on treatment.

Until you've been there...it's hard to know just how it feels.

[portann]

If it's your first time asking for special accommodation, then that's why you feel awkward. I'd certainly ask if I were you, doing tx.

And what you're asking is very reasonable, except starting early could be a problem but as long as the others are already writing when you leave, that should be OK.

Let's see...who were students while treating who you could flag down for their opinions? Lalapple, of course, and Isobella and Trish. You could send them notes or PMs, which (usually) sends notifications to email addresses.