Any other students with chronic illness?

[keepsingin]

I too am a Superhuman.

love this

No chronic illness, but I think most everyone here had some adversity they had to overcome to make their degree happen. Color me totally impressed and inspired by your perseverance.

Thanks for the encouragement, davewill!

I have posted about the beginning of my time at TESU a lot, but didn't disclose some issues until I posted my "I'm done" thread. I danced professionally for years, & went through a lot from that which I had some PTSD from. Eventually I ruined my left knee, which left me without work. Then I had an a permanent injury on the right knee just before I had surgery on the left. My home life involved domestic violence that eventually left me with multiple back injuries, & contributed more to the PTSD and lead to depression. I'm starting to feel much better mood wise, it helped my confidence that I was finally able to find a job and finish my degree all while dealing with some pretty severe verbal & physical domestic violence. I now deal with chronic pain in both knees and my entire back though, especially the tailbone. I've also had horrible migraines for years. Its hard to make any sort of study schedule when you aren't sure if you are safe, if you'll still have a place to live tomorrow, how long you can sit and try to concentrate/learn until the back pain gets too severe, or if you have to deal with migraines that can go from hours to days. Its slowed me down for sure, & I put on a lot of weight as a result (60lbs). At least finishing at TESU I could work at my own pace & even lay on my stomach to study instead of dealing with as much back pain from sitting up. I have a lot of mornings still where I just wake up in a ton of pain, which is miserable, and I've learned to schedule my whole day around how much I can physically/emotionally handle.

Wow, you deserve special recognition for pushing through despite your circumstances. PMed you.

Lindagerr and Mamasaphire, thanks so much for sharing your stories! It's so uplifting to see others who have accomplished their goals with chronic health issues. And I totally agree that all the wonderful supporters don't get recognized nearly enough!

Thanks again for the responses, everyone; y'all are great!