Couples Survive Cancer More than Singles

I thought this article was worth posting in its entirety (please forgive formatting issues).

Why being married could stop you dying of cancer: Sufferers have 'something to live for' if they have a spouse 

• Analysis of 60,000 patients showed singletons were more likely to die
• Patients' other halves are more likely to 'hassle' them to see a doctor
• For one blood cancer the unmarried had a 43 per cent higher death rate

By SOPHIE BORLAND HEALTH EDITOR IN CHICAGO FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 18:06 EST, 7 June 2016 | UPDATED: 03:00 EST, 8 June 2016

Being married increases your chances of beating cancer, experts have revealed.

An analysis of 60,000 patients over ten years found single or unmarried patients with the disease were a fifth more likely to die.

Researchers say having a spouse or family gives sufferers ‘something to live for’ and makes them far more determined to beat the illness.

Patients’ other halves – particularly wives – are more likely to ‘hassle’ them to see a doctor about any worrying symptoms or remind them to go to chemotherapy appointments.

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Being married increases the risk of beating cancer. Researchers said having a spouse or family gives sufferers ‘something to live for’ and makes them far more determined to beat the illness

Researchers from the University of California in San Diego presented their findings at the American Society for Clinical Oncology conference this week. They looked at the records of 60,000 men and women with leukaemia and other types of blood cancer between 2000 and 2009.

On average, patients who were not married were 21 per cent more likely to die than their married counterparts.

But among those with follicular lymphoma – a rare blood cancer – the unmarried had a 43 per cent higher chance of dying. And the figure was 37 per cent for Hodgkin lymphoma sufferers.

‘If you are single you don’t have someone at home nagging at you to get checked out.

‘This is particularly true with men. Women tend to have more support even if they are single.’

He added: ‘Married people and people with families are more likely to stick to treatment. They have a support system making them go to chemo, reminding them to take their medication.

‘They are also more motivated to seek out healthcare. To put it bluntly, they have something to live for. These results show that health services need to take more care of single patients – they need to be the surrogate for a spouse.

MARRIED PEOPLE ARE ALSO MORE LIKELY TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK 

Married people are more likely to survive a heart attack, according to British research.

Having a spouse to care for them ‘in sickness and in health’ improves patients’ survival chances by 14 per cent, experts found.

They were also, on average, likely to spend two fewer days in hospital after an attack.

Scientists studied more than 25,000 people with a heart attack diagnosis over a 13-year period, drawn from a database of more than one million hospital patients.

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Married people are more likely to survive a heart attack, a study has found. Having a spouse to care for them ‘in sickness and in health’ improves patients’ survival chances by 14 per cent

The researchers, from Aston Medical School and the University of East Anglia, suggested marital partners may offer the kind of physical and emotional support that bolsters patients’ determination to live. Presenting results at the British Cardiovascular Society conference in Manchester yesterday, the UEA’s Dr Nicholas Gollop said: ‘Our results should not be a cause for concern for single people who have had a heart attack.

‘But they should certainly be a reminder to the medical community of the importance of considering the support a heart attack survivor will get once they are discharged.’

There could be financial implications for the NHS as the average cost per day for patients on a surgical ward is £400. Reducing length of stays could save £10 million.

A recent British Heart Foundation study found one in three heart attack survivors has suffered anxiety or depression. Dr Mike Knapton, BHF associate medical director, said: ‘A heart attack can have both devastating physical and psychological effects … These findings suggest the support offered by a spouse can have a beneficial effect on heart attack survivors, perhaps helping to minimise the impact of a heart attack.

‘But when you have your heart attack, whether you’re married or not, it’s important to remember that you are not alone … a cardiac rehabilitation course, for example, will help you to recover physically, psychologically, and also help you to meet people who know what you’ve been through.’

About 188,000 people a year are admitted to UK hospitals as a result of a heart attack. 

‘Single people often don’t look after themselves.’

The university’s Professor Maria Elena Martinez, who was also involved in the study, said: ‘Being single should be a red flag for doctors. If a cancer patient comes in without a family member or spouse it should be a warning sign.

‘Medical staff need to ask the patient about the support at home. Doctors need to go that little bit extra with single patients.’

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Patients’ other halves – particularly wives – are more likely to ‘hassle’ them to see a doctor, researchers said

Previous research has shown that married couples are more likely to survive heart attacks, overcome high-risk surgery and also tend to live longer.

Adrienne Betteley, interim head of health and social care at the charity Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘We know that a cancer diagnosis can leave people feeling very lonely and that this can have a detrimental effect on their lives, with many forced to skip meals or attend vital appointments alone. At worst it can result in patients refusing treatment altogether.’

Cancer Research UK’s senior clinical adviser, Professor Arnie Purushotham, said it is ‘unclear why married people in this study seem to have better outcomes’.

But he added: ‘It may be that cancer patients who have close support of partners do better and this may be due to sticking with their treatment better and a network of social support. Developing such a network of support may benefit all cancer patients.’ 

Disability & Inevitablility: A Touch of Philosophy

From the March 6, 2008 New England Journal of Medicine:

"In the United States, 125 million people are living with chronic illness, disability, or functional limitation. The nature of modern medicine requires that these patients receive assistance from a number of different care providers. Between 2000 and 2002, the typical Medicare beneficiary saw a median of two primary care physicians and five specialists each year, in addition to accessing diagnostic, pharmacy, and other services. Patients with several chronic conditions may visit up to 16 physicians in a year. Care among multiple providers must be coordinated to avoid wasteful duplication of diagnostic testing, perilous polypharmacy, and confusion about conflicting care plans."

These 125 million people are not the unfortunate "other." They are not only our partners, children, sisters, brothers, parents, and friends. They are us.

A friend who has worked in the rehabilitation field for decades likes to shock people by saying that there are no dis-abled people, only temporarily abled people. And none of us has the algorithm for figuring out how long we will be abled.

So what's a person to do when the outcome is so fearsome and so certain:

"Keep walking, though there's no place to get to. Don't try to see through the distances. That's not for human beings. Move within, but don't move the way fear makes you move."
Rumi (13th century Persian poet)


...and it wouldn't hurt to consult with a long term health care/financial planner; build a strong relationship with a primary care provider; find a health care facility that has a geriatric service that provides case management (like John Muir Health Senior Services in California); talk to your family before a crisis hits about your wishes and the kinds of help family members can offer.

Chronic Illness: No One's Talking About it

From an October 11 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Americans are more reluctant to discuss managing a chronic illness with family or friends than to talk about politics or religion or even extra-marital affairs, according to a survey of more than 1,000 adults conducted by Evercare, a provider of health plans for people who have chronic illnesses, are older, or have disabilities.

The survey, released Oct. 11, found that 82 percent of respondents said they knew someone with a chronic illness, but only 34 percent were likely to suggest ways for this person to better manage their care. And, btw, by 2020, about 157 million Americans will be afflicted by chronic illnesses, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The reasons why many Americans are reluctant to offer advice to chronically-ill friends or family include: They think the person has the situation under control (66 percent); they are not a health care professional (31 percent); they don't want to seem like a nag (31 percent) or rude (29 percent); they don't believe the person would listen to them (27 percent); or they didn't think the matter was that important (15 percent).

The bit that caught my attentions was this:

Twenty percent of respondents said their spouse was the easiest person to give advice to about health. However men have an easier time offering health advice to their spouse (28 percent) than women (19 percent).

This means that even among committed couples dealing with chronic illness, there's not a whole lot of talking happening about the topic. This deeply concerns me. Chronic illness consumes -- it can consume time, energy, passion, attention, empathy, altruism, and even love. And it's voracity can become even more potent when there's nothing between it and it's victim but empty silence. How lonely!

And any significant silence, any unnamed pain, or any undiscussable topic does not stay encapsulated in a neat corner of the relationship. It infiltrates. It seeps into other territories in the relationship, taking up more and more space until silence turns into habit. Not discussing a fearsome issue -- be it illness, sex, infidelity, money, family -- does not diminish its impact. On the contrary. The tension around the taboo subject just gets expressed elsewhere - through distance or eruptions.

Why aren't couples talking about the chronic illness in their lives? Is it denial about the illness? Is it protection of the partner's feelings? Is it avoidance of one's own feelings? Is it disgust over the physicality of some of the symptoms? Is it rage at the sick partner for his/her limitations, or at the well partner for his/her health? And why is it easier for men than for women to speak? Or is it harder for men to hear their female partner's words than it is for women to hear their male partner's?

Whatever the reasons, illness is just too hard to carry alone. Please, may we all find a way to find the words that penetrate the silence.

Chronic Illness Statistics: We Are Not Alone

Here are some surprising stats about chronic illness I recently found on a very interesting website, The Daily Headache, about living with and managing migraines and chronic headaches (written by Kerrie Smyres):

• Nearly 1 in 2 Americans (133 million) has a chronic condition
• 96% of them live with an illness that is invisible. These people do not use a cane or any device and may look perfectly healthy.
• Sixty percent are between the ages of 18 and 64
• The divorce rate among the chronically ill is over 75%
• Depression is 15-20% higher for the chronically ill than for the average person
• Various studies have reported that physical illness or uncontrollable physical pain are major factors in up to 70% of suicides and more than 50% of these suicidal patients were under 35 years of age

We are not alone. And we have a lot to learn from each other about living with illness. In fact, there is a National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness week annually in September to bring together and educate people with chronic illness and the people who care about them.