Agree with this and j4pac's post.
Now, granted, I do think they should allow you to start over next year/have a go at it.
But OP, what happens if you get sick again? Part of dealing especially with a chronic illness like IBS is learning coping skills so that you are able to live the best life you can with the illness. That includes finding ways to work things out so you can still function, and part of that means reaching out for help at the absolute earliest opportunity when things start to go south (and making preventive plans beforehand, if possible). I don't know what you did or did not do to reach out to your school, I am just speaking in general.
It's possible to go through medical school with a chronic illness or even an acute flare-up. But the field is demanding and, "fair" or not, that means you have to be on top of your game even when you don't want to. I had a number of classmates face health challenges throughout the first two years and it did make things a lot harder for them. Doing "make-up work" while still trying to keep up with your current class, cutting back on ECs, skyping into class when they couldn't physically make it for one reason or another including illness... it's hard but in order to make it through you have to keep that dedication even when you feel horrible, it's just the way the field is. And if you can't, take an LOA - that is a proactive way of coping instead of letting yourself go down in flames. Again, I don't know what you did or did not do, this is general advice for your options if you are successfully reinstated and something comes up further into your education/career. FWIW, this is coming from someone who has a chronic illness and has had episodes throughout my life and had to work through them (whether to stay updated at school or not lose too much time on the job), with things really settling down in my second half of college. I am not trying to be harsh. I think being able to work through a severe illness flare is a skill set and I don't blame you for being unprepared, and also that is not always something that is going to be physically or mentally possible (hence the option of an LOA if needed) but just know they are going to expect you to push yourself even when you think you are at your limits and if you are able to start again, try to come up with a contingency plan/coping skills in advance so you can help yourself cope better in case you have an emergency situation happen again.
I understand your point and, truthfully, it was a surprise and I was unprepared to deal with the illnesses I encountered this past term. There was really no way to foresee my circumstances. But I think the crux of the issue is that the illnesses did not happen in isolation. I think focusing only on illness and coping is taking much too simplistic view of my situation, and this why I think the admin at my school are being so unforgiving. Perhaps I should have emphasized it more in my explanation at the beginning of my post, but the conditions in which I arrived in the new city for med school played a huge role in why my illnesses were such a significant setback.
Now, I hate to go on making excuses, because I'll be the first to acknowledge that everything that happened was the result of choices I made. However, I'll state again for the sake of thoroughness that I was accepted three weeks before classes started and was living 3,000+ miles away, and had already reapplied for the following cycle. I cannot attest to other peoples experience in the weeks/months before med school, but mine was a total s***show. I asked for deferred acceptance and was denied, so how could I pass up my only acceptance. I put in my two weeks to train my replacement scribe, packed up my life into my car and arrived in the new city the day before orientation...without a place to live. Why didn't I make the preparations beforehand? No time, literally. Why did I take the acceptance if I had any doubt
whatsoever if it would be logistically possible? Good question. I almost didn't take the acceptance, but there was that little voice telling me that you
don't pass up an acceptance if it was the only one you got. I
had to make it work.
This new city I moved to just happens to be a nightmare of a place to find an apartment, and it took me eight weeks to sign a lease. Now it was during that eight weeks that the first illness, kidney stones, took place. Since I was already juggling school and lodging, an illness was the icing on the cake. Does anybody really think that I just didn't study or gave up after I got out of the hospital? Of course I studied. As much as I possibly could while on pain meds and still looking for an apt. I got so far behind during during the first 2-3 months, but I never gave up and I only worked harder. I approached my dean and the professors in the class that was giving me the most trouble (anatomy). While they were sympathetic to my plight, there wasn't much they could do except for tell me to concentrate on learning objectives and try to catch up. I was living a
nightmare, but what could I do.
To be clear, I really believe that mental fortitude wasn't an issue, i.e. I can handle the stress, I can handle the illness. There just wasn't enough time. In hindsight, perhaps an LOA would have been a option, but it really didn't cross my mind and it wasn't presented as an option by admin.
Then, of course, during finals I start sh***ing blood and go to the doctor, who tells me I need a colonoscopy to rule out colorectal cancer. Perfect. Here is where I made the worst decision. I should have gone to admin, told them my issue, and gotten medical leave or an extension on finals. But I didn't. I scheduled the colonoscopy for after finals and did my best to power through.
I know what this all sounds like. Excuse after excuse, after excuse, ad nauseam. I hate writing it as much as you hate reading it. It's one of those "if only you knew me" type of situations. If only admin knew that I'm not the type of person to complain, if only admin knew I probably put in more hours studying than most of my classmate, if only admin knew that I never gave up no matter how desperate my situation looked, etc., etc.
I don't want pity, special treatment, or anything like that. All that I am, and have been asking my deans for is to say "Hey, this person sacrificed everything to be here, gave it a good go, but got f'd in the a at every turn (I mean, they have the gosh darn documentation to prove it), let's give them another shot and see what's what." But I can't get
anybody to return my emails or calls. I spoke with the dean of student affairs at the outset of this week, and when I told her about the grading error and that I likely didn't fail one of the classes that my transcript says (oh yeah, there was a grading error), she said it was, "too late for that." By the by, the day I got out of the hospital for the kidney stones, I went to the student affairs dean to give her my hospital excuse and now she claims that I
never gave it to her and won't accept it now (I went back to the ER and they reprinted my documentation). Not a big deal? I got docked 10% for exams that I missed while in the hospital. But they won't tell me which ones and nobody at the school will meet with me to discuss it.
Longest response ever. I know what most people are going to think or say when (I mean,
if) they read this monstrosity.
Coping this,
are you sure you can handle being a doctor why don't you go to nursing or PA school that. I would probably be thinking/saying the same thing. But now that I've lived this nightmare (am living it), I realize that things aren't always as black and white as they seem. I will listen much more carefully to people, and be more understand and sympathetic to peoples hardships. This might actually make me a better physician.
Welp, I'm off to my condo in the Caribbean to take a break. Does anyone want to buy my timeshare on Dominica? I hear it's beautiful this time of year.
