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MI_Runner
MI_Runner Member Posts: 46
edited June 2014 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

Hi everyone,

 I was diagnosed last week with grade 3 IDC, stage unknown at this point.  Among a thousand other things, I'm concerned with how I'm going to make it through school.  I'm finishing up the first year of my PhD program, and have to stay enrolled to keep my income and health insurance.  This semester is about over, thankfully, and I'll be done with finals before surgery.  However, I'm scheduled for two classes this summer.  One is only 3 days long but I may have to drop because it might be the same week as my surgery. The other lasts the entire summer and has biweekly exams.  I'm going to talk with my advisor about possibly taking independent study credits instead. Based on timing alone, I'll probably still be going through chemo when the fall semester starts.  At that point I have to have some kind of assistantship and will be enrolled in 9 credits worth of classes.  

Has anyone gone through treatment while in school?  I suppose work would apply, too, so I'll take anyone's input at this point.

Thanks!

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  • Mouser
    Mouser Member Posts: 245
    edited May 2009

    Hi Runner --

    No one's answered - probably because few women of student age get cancer! - so i'll put in my 2-cents' worth. I'm not a student, but i am faculty; i have the reciprocal view.

    My 1st suggestion is: level with your professors and your departmental adviser! They should be helpful -- if they aren't, about something this serious, they'll be real bastards about the dissertation, too.... not good any which way. If they're decent, they can probably figure out a way for you to manage a lighter load without losing support -- eg, if you have a TA appointment, maybe they could give you a grading position so you don't have to be in front of a class at set times -- whatever. There is often a lot that the dept can do!!

    My 2nd suggestion depends on where you are academically. Do you have an adviser of your own yet, or are you still under the departmental adviser? PhD programs differ, even within one field. In bio, my dept gets people into labs, meaning they have a research director, asap; other depts let students wait a year. In math here, you only get a research adviser when you start working on your dissertation, after prelims - 3 or 4 yrs out). So: if you haven't got a research adviser yet, it is the dept that has to make accommodations: see above.

    If you have a research adviser, that's the person who will matter most.  If he/she is not helpful in your situation -- find a new adviser. I am not joking, not kidding, not saying this lightly. Professors who do not understand illness are not good human beings, and they make terrible thesis directors even for healthy people.

    At all levels -- see if you can do individual study, as you mention. Check out if there is an option for incomplete grades --one of my students carried an incomplete for 3 yrs, and the Grad College didn't care until she was close to graduating. At which point the *they* pressured the prof to finally grade the paper -- very different from your situation, but my point is that in some places you can let an incomplete ride for quite a while - long enough to get thru treatment - without jeopardizing your support. Ask.

    In all cases: don't be afraid to ask for help, for accommodation, for whatever you need. We can't help if students don't ask... and most (tho not all of us!!) try to be decent human beings.

    All the best! And i do hope your dept is good about things. 

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  • MI_Runner
    MI_Runner Member Posts: 46
    edited May 2009

    Thanks, Mouser. 

    In my department, students and advisers are matched from time of admission, so even though I'm in my first year I've been working in some capacity with my adviser for nearly 2 years.  I told him what was going on from the very beginning, mostly because that was a particularly bad day and I wound up skipping his class that night (with his permission).  I finally had my end-of-semester meeting with him this past week, and we worked out an indpendent study so that I won't have to manage biochem and biweekly exams all summer.  Also, I have a research assistantship lined up for next year and hopefully I will be mostly done with treatment by the time that starts.

    Surgery is tomorrow, and then I have all week to recover before a 3-day seminar class I have to go to next week (MWF).  I'm optimistic that it will all work out.

     Thanks for weighing in, the other perspective is really helpful :)

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