Being a Chronically Ill College Student

Now, if you have been on our blog before, you know that we are college students, and often talk about college life. Today, we decided to do that once again. Specifically, addressing somethings people often do not think of when in college.

When you are chronically ill, some things just become a part of your everyday life.  Now, I’m not talking about pills, appointments, or restrictions.  I’m talking about the attitudes, and behavior changes.  I can’t tell you how many times Nemo and I have texted, or told each other how determined we are to get something done.  We have had multiple pep talks about graduating, and getting our degrees.  Going in depth about how we are going to let NOTHING stand in our way.  How our future is ours to make, and that we won’t let the doubters, or the administration get in our way.  To summarize the texts, it’s a lot of we can do this, and responses of hell yeah we can.

    

     Pretty much the whole world is doubting us.  We are two chronically ill twenty-something year old girls in an accelerated masters program.  That would make someone doubt the capabilities of a “normal” person.  For us, it becomes (at least) 10x harder.  They don’t think we will show up to class, because of our conditions.  What they don’t understand is that we show up all the time unless it is ER worthy, or sometimes the professors figure out we are trying to hide that the symptoms are actually ER worthy, and send us home.  No one thinks that we can actually complete our assignments on time, not realizing that we have completed many major assignments from a hospital bed.  All they see are our limitations.  They don’t stop to think of the positives we may have gained.  To them, there are no positives, only negatives.  We can think outside of the box, and we have unique points of view.  We know how to think like a patient, because we often are one.  Medical lingo is a second language to us, and we are not afraid to use it.  They don’t realize that we may be very on top of our work, or that we might be able to teach the whole class the topic since we studied so hard (or because we have lived it).  

     We are both extremely stubborn, and you can bet that this has made us become even more stubborn.  With everyone wanting to see us fail, we can’t help but want to prove them wrong.  While they see our limitations, we are determined to make them see what we can do.  

Just remember to show them you are more than capable, and that you can succeed

WE BELIEVE IN YOU!

-Nemo, Tremors, and Secret Agent Puppy