Petition Letter
Veronica Tuason
475 Princess St.
Unit 202
Kingston, ON Canada
K7L1C3
Associate Dean (Studies)
Dunning Hall ¿¿ First Floor,
94 University Avenue
Queen¿¿s University
Kingston, Ontario Canada
K7L 3N6
27 March 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
I¿¿m writing to appeal to waive the 21-day appeal deadline for my Fall courses as well as to drop my Winter courses of the 2014-2015 school year. The courses I would like to drop from my Fall semester are: FILM 110, ENGL 200, ENGL 223, HIST 122, and ENGL 257. The Winter semester courses I would like to drop are: HIST 122B, and ENGL 237.
During my course of study at Queen¿¿s, my doctors and I have noticed that November of the Fall semesters become a very hard time for me to concentrate on school and perform at my best. My Lupus becomes harder to deal with and I usually suffer from a flare during that time. During this school year, I experienced a flare up that was quite disabling. I had severe joint pains that would disable me from walking and my hands and wrists joints also disabled me from doing my work and going to class. I was also not able to hand in assignments on time because sometimes my professors required me to hand in physically and my friends or classmates were not able to help at the time. I would often have to ask my housemates to help me open my medicine bottles or support me to my room as well. After having a check up with my Lupus doctor, we found that my hemoglobin count was low which explained why I felt like fainting or felt unwell; I could not lift my limbs because they hurt, and I was tired often. Thus, my doctors and I have decided to start a new Intravenous treatment called Benlysta for me that is effective for patients who have CNS (Central Nervous System) Lupus and who have had a history of Lupus affecting the brain, which I have had.
This relatively new drug will hopefully help with enabling me to work and function at 100 instead of 60 or 50. My doctors and I hope to see improvements in both my mental and physical health as we suspect that in November when the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, it affects my mental health. Anxiety and depression are also symptoms of Lupus as well, and my doctor has advised me to look for a councillor to help me throughout the year. My nurse will also help me find a suitable therapist or councillor in Kingston that can help me with my mental health.
I hope to be starting my treatment this month so that I will have ample amount of time to adjust to it and I, hopefully, will not have to miss any time off of school next year. My doctors and I hope that this new drug will enable me to succeed in my studies at Queen¿¿s. They are now closely monitoring my mental health as well because it seems that it is closely related to my flares. I will be going back and forth from Queen¿¿s to Toronto once a month to do my treatment as well as have check ups with my doctor so that she can assess how I am doing. My doctor, parents, and I have made a plan that we hope will enable me to continue my studies as well as ensure the stability of my health. With this, I am really hoping I am able to be given a chance to start my studies fresh and truly show my full potential at Queen¿¿s.
Thank you so much for your time and understanding.
Sincerely,
Veronica Tuason
475 Princess St.
Unit 202
Kingston, ON Canada
K7L1C3
Associate Dean (Studies)
Dunning Hall ¿¿ First Floor,
94 University Avenue
Queen¿¿s University
Kingston, Ontario Canada
K7L 3N6
27 March 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
I¿¿m writing to appeal to waive the 21-day appeal deadline for my Fall courses as well as to drop my Winter courses of the 2014-2015 school year. The courses I would like to drop from my Fall semester are: FILM 110, ENGL 200, ENGL 223, HIST 122, and ENGL 257. The Winter semester courses I would like to drop are: HIST 122B, and ENGL 237.
During my course of study at Queen¿¿s, my doctors and I have noticed that November of the Fall semesters become a very hard time for me to concentrate on school and perform at my best. My Lupus becomes harder to deal with and I usually suffer from a flare during that time. During this school year, I experienced a flare up that was quite disabling. I had severe joint pains that would disable me from walking and my hands and wrists joints also disabled me from doing my work and going to class. I was also not able to hand in assignments on time because sometimes my professors required me to hand in physically and my friends or classmates were not able to help at the time. I would often have to ask my housemates to help me open my medicine bottles or support me to my room as well. After having a check up with my Lupus doctor, we found that my hemoglobin count was low which explained why I felt like fainting or felt unwell; I could not lift my limbs because they hurt, and I was tired often. Thus, my doctors and I have decided to start a new Intravenous treatment called Benlysta for me that is effective for patients who have CNS (Central Nervous System) Lupus and who have had a history of Lupus affecting the brain, which I have had.
This relatively new drug will hopefully help with enabling me to work and function at 100 instead of 60 or 50. My doctors and I hope to see improvements in both my mental and physical health as we suspect that in November when the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, it affects my mental health. Anxiety and depression are also symptoms of Lupus as well, and my doctor has advised me to look for a councillor to help me throughout the year. My nurse will also help me find a suitable therapist or councillor in Kingston that can help me with my mental health.
I hope to be starting my treatment this month so that I will have ample amount of time to adjust to it and I, hopefully, will not have to miss any time off of school next year. My doctors and I hope that this new drug will enable me to succeed in my studies at Queen¿¿s. They are now closely monitoring my mental health as well because it seems that it is closely related to my flares. I will be going back and forth from Queen¿¿s to Toronto once a month to do my treatment as well as have check ups with my doctor so that she can assess how I am doing. My doctor, parents, and I have made a plan that we hope will enable me to continue my studies as well as ensure the stability of my health. With this, I am really hoping I am able to be given a chance to start my studies fresh and truly show my full potential at Queen¿¿s.
Thank you so much for your time and understanding.
Sincerely,
Veronica Tuason