Petition Letter
I¿¿m appealing to retroactively drop my ECON 110 course and be registered in ECON 111 for the fall term of 2019, so as to receive the marks I achieved in my first term. I¿¿ve discussed this with my prof and was told this is the best course of option given the circumstances. The sequence of events that lead to me needing to submit this appeal are described below. Apologies for getting this in so late, this has been a really hard process for me.
Ended first and entered second semester dealing with steadily worsening malnutrition as a consequence of starting concerta. During this period I barely had the energy to bring myself down to leonard hall to eat and sometimes even to stand up. Ended up losing weight down to 145 lbs (at a height of 6¿¿) from 160 lbs at which point I got help from SWS. Stabilized weight loss albeit at a still unhealthily low weight but was still experiencing the extreme fatigue associated with malnutrition, during which time I barely ever made it to lectures and missed several tutorials on account of the symptoms. It was during this time that I first started my correspondence with my Profs, TAs, and my QSAS advisor.
The experience triggered a period of severe depression which I have still yet to recover from. Initially I tried to treat the depression using an antidepressant I had had in the past, but it interacted with concerta in a way which caused very severe side effects, including one day what I believe to be mild serotonin syndrome. At this point I began speaking to my QSAS advisor in earnest about getting accommodations for my missed classes and work, and to get myself mental health help. It was in the middle of this process that school and pretty well all of Ontario shut down as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 in Canada. This had a devastating effect on my already very poor mental health, and it took me a full month before I managed to begin seeking help for myself again. I had a lot of catch up work to do for multiple classes, including Econ. It was around this time that I reached the decision to appeal my Econ 110 mark, after discussion with my prof and QSAS advisor. I had set myself a deadline to submit my appeal of mid-may which I was on track for.
Several days before my deadline I ended up having to go the hospital with most of the symptoms of Covid-19, where I was told based on my symptoms that I very likely had a case of it but would not receive a positive test since I wasn¿¿t a huge death or spread risk (tests wouldn¿¿t become widely available to the public until I was already out of self isolation). The next several days put any of my doubts to bed about whether I had the disease as I dealt with 100 + degree fevers, severe sore and swollen throat, and what I can only describe as feeling like my ribs were trying to crush my lungs for around 6 days. I spent the remainder of isolation recovering from the toil of the first half, before slowly picking up on my catchup work. It is only this week (week of July 13-19) that I would finally consider myself ¿recovered¿¿ from the virus as the last month and a half for me have been defined by breathing problems, especially when lying down, which made quality sleep a luxury. Because of the severe disruption, and the fact that I was now in a severe time crunch based on the deadlines I had set for myself, the econ appeal fell far on my priorities list.
My experience with the virus and the long recovery process have had an even further detrimental effect on my mental health, to the point that for almost all of June I was barely even capable of being productive in even a domestic sense. While before I had only been dealing with severe depression that last month and a half have been marked by serious anxiety (I¿¿ve had it suggested but have never been diagnosed so this could very well be something else). I¿¿m frankly not even sure how long it's taken me to work up to writing this appeal. I think it must be at least two weeks that I wake up telling myself I need to do it today and then avoiding it out of some irrational fear of it.
Ended first and entered second semester dealing with steadily worsening malnutrition as a consequence of starting concerta. During this period I barely had the energy to bring myself down to leonard hall to eat and sometimes even to stand up. Ended up losing weight down to 145 lbs (at a height of 6¿¿) from 160 lbs at which point I got help from SWS. Stabilized weight loss albeit at a still unhealthily low weight but was still experiencing the extreme fatigue associated with malnutrition, during which time I barely ever made it to lectures and missed several tutorials on account of the symptoms. It was during this time that I first started my correspondence with my Profs, TAs, and my QSAS advisor.
The experience triggered a period of severe depression which I have still yet to recover from. Initially I tried to treat the depression using an antidepressant I had had in the past, but it interacted with concerta in a way which caused very severe side effects, including one day what I believe to be mild serotonin syndrome. At this point I began speaking to my QSAS advisor in earnest about getting accommodations for my missed classes and work, and to get myself mental health help. It was in the middle of this process that school and pretty well all of Ontario shut down as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 in Canada. This had a devastating effect on my already very poor mental health, and it took me a full month before I managed to begin seeking help for myself again. I had a lot of catch up work to do for multiple classes, including Econ. It was around this time that I reached the decision to appeal my Econ 110 mark, after discussion with my prof and QSAS advisor. I had set myself a deadline to submit my appeal of mid-may which I was on track for.
Several days before my deadline I ended up having to go the hospital with most of the symptoms of Covid-19, where I was told based on my symptoms that I very likely had a case of it but would not receive a positive test since I wasn¿¿t a huge death or spread risk (tests wouldn¿¿t become widely available to the public until I was already out of self isolation). The next several days put any of my doubts to bed about whether I had the disease as I dealt with 100 + degree fevers, severe sore and swollen throat, and what I can only describe as feeling like my ribs were trying to crush my lungs for around 6 days. I spent the remainder of isolation recovering from the toil of the first half, before slowly picking up on my catchup work. It is only this week (week of July 13-19) that I would finally consider myself ¿recovered¿¿ from the virus as the last month and a half for me have been defined by breathing problems, especially when lying down, which made quality sleep a luxury. Because of the severe disruption, and the fact that I was now in a severe time crunch based on the deadlines I had set for myself, the econ appeal fell far on my priorities list.
My experience with the virus and the long recovery process have had an even further detrimental effect on my mental health, to the point that for almost all of June I was barely even capable of being productive in even a domestic sense. While before I had only been dealing with severe depression that last month and a half have been marked by serious anxiety (I¿¿ve had it suggested but have never been diagnosed so this could very well be something else). I¿¿m frankly not even sure how long it's taken me to work up to writing this appeal. I think it must be at least two weeks that I wake up telling myself I need to do it today and then avoiding it out of some irrational fear of it.