Quality of Life and Cancer Survival

Sorry for the late post today, y’all — it’s been one of those days. My mental CPU has been in overdrive thinking about client deadlines, Christmas wish lists, upcoming bills, and everything else life is throwing my way. As my friend Amanda says, it’s been the kind of day that’s so busy that I have to schedule bathroom breaks. Still, I wouldn’t change anything this crazy life I love so much — well, except maybe a new fluorescent light bulb to replace the one that’s flickering eerily over my workspace.

Speaking of quality of life, it seems that researchers at Fox Chase and Henry Ford Hospitals are looking to study exactly that in lung cancer patients undergoing treatment. In preliminary data looking at 239 patients, it seems that the higher the quality of life, the better the predictor of patient survival.

What factors into the quality of life score? Marital status, for one. Patients who were single, divorced, or widowed had significantly lower quality of life scores, which correlated with a decrease in survival. Another interesting find from the study was that if quality of life improved during the study, so did the patient’s chances of survival.

It seems to me that patients with a good support system all fared much better than those going it alone. This really got me thinking —it really is the small things that make life so enjoyable. We should all take this opportunity to pay it forward and do something nice for someone else today, even if it’s something small like letting your husband enjoy his day off by not bugging him while he hangs out in his pajamas playing videogames all day. While your extra time is limited, it is a precious gift to someone else. After all, you can hit the bathroom anytime!

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