Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to drop all of my fall term classes (HLTH235, HLTH270, LING205, ANAT100, GNDS120) late without academic penalty (incomplete grade) due to the illnesses I endured this semester which have greatly impacted my academic performance.

I have been dealing with ongoing medical issues since the beginning of October this semester. I sought medical attention in Kingston from a total of 5 different physicians. On October 7th, I visited a clinic called Riverdale Pharmacy in Kingston where I was diagnosed with strep and given Azithromycin for 5 days. Then, my symptoms progressed as the antibiotics did not reduce my throat pain or swelling. I returned to the clinic on October 10th where I was positive again for the strep test, given Penicillin V Potassium for 10 days. After, I started receiving more flu-like symptoms, followed by muscle cramps and additional throat swelling. Therefore, on October 23rd, I was given Penicillin V Potassium a second time for positive strep for 10 days. Once again, the antibiotic did not treat my swollen throat and flu-like symptoms, so I decided to return to the clinic for a fourth time. On November 7th, I was tested positive for strep against with the rapid strep test and given Azithromycin for 5 days. After not regaining my health for the fourth time in one semester and being on 3 different antibiotics which made me feel horrendous and weak, I decided to head back to my hometown to visit a family physician who could assess my case. Therefore, on November 10th, Dr. Nathoo prescribed me with 300mg of Clindamycin for 10 days. My parents and I realized the dosage I was given of Clindamycin was not strong enough after seeing no improvement in my symptoms after a few days. At this point, I had severe Pharyngitis and swollen lymph nodes that made it extremely difficult to swallow, eat, or speak. My parents booked me an appointment with an ENT specialist so I could be accurately assessed. I saw Dr. Bravo (ENT) on November 13th who diagnosed me with the Epstein-Barr virus which caused Mononucleosis. This resulted in the additional diagnosis of severe Pharyngitis, Lymphadenopathy, and Splenomegaly. He prescribed me with 600mg of Clindamycin for 7 days, and Dexamethasone (steroid) for 9 days.

After I completed the steroids and antibiotics, I thankfully was able to eat and speak properly again due to the inflammation reduction. However, my level of functioning normally was severely impacted. I was incredibly weak and could not focus, and I slept an average of 13 hours a day. As expected, between the dates of October 7th to now, I have been struggling to deal and properly diagnose my medical condition which prevented me from fulfilling any academic requirements. Having more than 5 rounds of antibiotics back to back ended up taking a toll on my body. Now, I deal with frequent sharp stomach cramping and pain, nausea, indigestion, bloating, and loss of appetite. I am still recovering from having received the medications which have lowered my immune system and gut bacteria, causing me to feel unwell most days. On top of this, the mononucleosis gives me extreme fatigue, horrible migraines, and high fevers every day. These symptoms prevented me from completing any course work, needless to say I could not attend lectures, exams or tutorials. I did not realize after my first strep occurrence that I would have to endure antibiotics another 6 more times, the severity of my illnesses was therefore not foreseen, which led to my decision of not dropping these 5 courses earlier. I could not complete the courses because of the symptoms I had endured from all my illnesses that made me bed-ridden, and the symptoms I am currently dealing with from the mononucleosis that give me extreme fatigue, sore throat and lymph nodes, difficulty concentrating, sharp stomach pains and swollen spleen, frequent high fevers and headaches, and itchy skin rashes. These symptoms are extremely uncomfortable and cause a lot of nausea because I endure them every day as my immune system is essentially shut down from the infection, making me more susceptible to other illnesses too. My Doctors all advised me to get frequent rest and stay in bed, and these reasons were why I was not able to walk to class or tutorials, complete any evaluations, or complete exams. This has been the most difficult semester for me to deal emotionally and physically due to the toll these medical conditions have put on my body. The subsequent stress of dealing with it and ensuring all my medical documentations for Queen¿¿s are completed while being ill, has made my symptoms progressively worse as well. The infection made it arduous to try and complete the amount of work I have missed, and still had to complete due to the prolonged illness. I have submitted an academic consideration for over 3 months to the portal which was approved by the academic consideration committee from November 15th, 2019 to January 27th, 2020, however I feel it is crucial to note that my illnesses began on October 7th, not November 15th. November 15th is 2 days after the date I was properly treated by a specialist.

At this point, that is why I am requesting that I can withdrawal from my fall courses without academic penalty and be given an incomplete grade in each.