Hey, I'm usually pretty togeather, at least I'd like to think so. But right now I'm so overwhelmed with school and my health and all sorts of things. I'm feeling pretty isolated. I don't want to burden my friends or family, but I just don't know if I can hack it at school. I've been busting my ass for four years and it's still going to take me two more to graduate because I get sick about once a semester and have to be hospitalized. I need so support, and i don't know where else to go. And I often find myself wondering why I was born in the first place because everytime I think I'm going to be ok and independant and able to chase my goals some thing happens. I've considered dropping out all togeather because I don't think I can do this. But then what? I can't afford to care for myself working w/o a diploma. I'm just really down right now, and it's unlike any other time. Is anyone in the same boat? Or maybe some one just has some time to chat, I'd be really greatful.Debbie20 yr old w/ CF in CO
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CF and College
- Thread starter anonymous
- Start date
Hey I am a 20 years old going on my 3rd year in college. I'm going through a lot of what you are. I don't get hospitalized to often but I get sick a lot . It's frustrating and I hate it. If you wanna chat my email is McCoy.17@wright.eduRyAnn Wright State UniversityOhio---Blah! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
I'm feeling the same way right this moment. I'm in my last year, and let me tell ya it's been tough to stay up with my class, come hell or high water. Now my docs are putting me on a transplant list, so it's kinda cramping my style. Tonight I've been feeling really down b/c, like you said, I don't want to burden anyone either. It's like nobody else gets it, AND they think I'm so "on top of it" and "together" when sometimes all I want to do is just CRY and let someone else deal with it!!! (that feels better!!) So I understand completely. There's a lot of stress being a student and dealing with THAT and the CF on top of it. And it's starting to pervade everything I do (so I guess the transplant will be a good thing), like climbing stairs, etc. I was at our Homecoming Dance last night and I couldn't dance and talk at the same time, which was a bummer b/c I could always do it before. So it's been a sobering weekend. I completely hear you. My email's emdeardo@yahoo.com, if you want to talk.Emily from OH (Ohio's not so bad!!)
Hey - keep on keeping on!It is tough, but you can finish your education. It is very important to get that degree. You will never regret it, but you do need to realize that you have health limitations and just can't do everything that everyone else is doing. You need to choose wisely. Also I found that certain quarters I was more sick than others. It was fall quarter for me. I finally learned and the last years I just skipped the fall quarter & went summer instead. (I was way healthier) I remember going to classes & my feet would get wet & I would sit in classes & everyone around me was sneezing ---- I would end up with pnemonia or in the hospital & had to drop classes. My energy level was always so low & I would fall asleep in classes, even after sleeping over 8 hrs every night. You now have other options, as many universities offer on line classes. My suggestion is to take a lighter load, or mix some online classes with your regular ones. With the online classes you can save the trudge, & reduce the chances of picking up something ugly. Plus most of them you can set more of your own pace, so if you do get sick, you don't loose what you have completed. I sure wish I would have had that option when I was at the UW. Don't forget that sleep is very important to combat stress. MARY55/WCF
Hello everyone, I am Rami and its my third year in college in lebanon, actually third is just the number of years since i ve been registered because indeed i failed to finish any course other than first year's. Its very hard for me to keep up with life and go to college regularly and iwonder how many years i'll spend in my university. Everytime i go to class i start coughing and bother myself , the teacher, and my classmates, and at the end i understand nothing of the lesson. I can not make any friends because of my case and i am always down. Above that all , my infections have no limit . I dont set high hopes for the future because only death will relieve me from my pain and i hope that i be along with Jesus in heaven because sick people deserve dont they! ramiuefa@yahoo.com
i'm 20 and i didn't go to university yet, but i had all those things you guys are talking about while being in my last two years of high school, which is when i started to get really sick. i guess my coughing bothered my classmates more than it did me, unless i'd get achey. nobody said anything, though, because absolutely everybody knew i had cf. it was just one more thing that would interrupt sometimes, like noise from outside or something. because israeli schools can have a lot of noise <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> so nobody minded my cough. well, maybe during exams, but like i said, everybody knew about my cf, they knew it's a health thing, i'm not coughing to annoy anybody.keeping up with classes was very hard. especially my senior year. i did make sure all of my teachers were aware of my cf, sometimes my doctor would write a letter to my school asking the teacher to allow me to take the exam later than other kids, because i had to dedicate so much time to my treatments and that took time away from studying, even though i did my best. everybody were really considerate. i think a lot of rules were bent to allow me to graduate and get normal grades. for example, in my school, if you missed 25% of classes of that subject [say, i missed 25% of my math classes], then no matter how i did on exams, you get a zero in report card. well, with me, nobody counted anything. which was a lifesaver, because in 11th grade i missed like 50% of all classes and in 12th grade, about 80-85% of all classes. i studied by myself at home, and given this, did very well on my exams. of course, had i been able to attend all my classes, i'd have much higher grades, but i have fine grades in any case, and if you know how i got them, they seem even higher. i sometimes took tests with high fevers, killer pains, whatnot, got out of hospitals against medical advice to take finals, i'd just swallow a lot of painkillers and go and take that test. god it was really hard. i remember before one of my finals, i came with an enormous fever, took a lot of medicine to get that off, a teacher who knew me saw me and scolded me in a motherly way for being so stubborn - i was pale as chalk and sweaty and weak, but i passed that test. and it was really frustrating, those years. i didn't go on school trips in the last two years in HS, and those were important events. i hated that. my friends were frightened by that because it felt like i'm dying, i always went on school trips and suddenly, i was too sick. sometimes i'd be in school but didn't go into class because i felt sick so i stayed in bathroom or outside, getting fresh air. sometimes i slept through classes. i don't think i was present in more than 3 psychology classes during my senior year, and i took the advanced course. not to brag, but i still had one of the highest grades in my class <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> it became a matter of my own pride, not to have a low grade in psych just because i'm not there. we had to do a major serious research paper in psych, we were given a year to do that and the teacher guided us closely, personal appointments and all. out of 20 girls in class [we were only girls, how sweet <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">], only two got a 100 - me and another girl, only that she sat with the teacher almost weekly and i had like 3 appointments because i failed to come to school, i was too sick. so that just made me feel like i won the biggest battle. i was also the only cf kid in school, and i think i was the first, because even the school nurse didn't know what to do with me. i had a carte blanche about leaving school and going home when i was sick, even though it was almost illegal. but they had to do it because my mom couldn't pick me up on almost a daily basis. so i came and went free. i guess it really was a miracle that i graduated and i have my high school diploma, and almost every rule in the book of school rules was broken, and it was really hard, but i did it. and i can't wait till university, although their rules would be much harder to break.the important thing, i learned, is that everybody have to know. that way, you can get as much help as possible. teachers not giving hell about missing class and classmates helping with study material, such things.