Andreas - Dx 1994 - NED 17 years after chemo, thoracotomy

[Fictional]

I just wanted to add this brief post about Dr. Andreas Kontoleon who was diagnosed with metastatic ASPS in 1994. He is registered at the old site and said he will update his profile after he finishes his fieldwork and has more reliable internet access.

Andreas continues to do great - he had thoracotomy on one side and residual nodules (0.5 cm) that did not grow on the other side and were just watched. He has not had to do any investigationals although he had conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy that did not seem to work (he went to thoracotomy) early in the course of his disease.

He added the following details in case any of you are interested:

"1) I started taking daily doses of vitamins (E, C, selenium, A, D (from fish oils) and tried to eat as healthily as I could (cut down on white sugars, highly processed foods etc). Just little things to try to boost my immune system.

2) Work wise I did not cut down. To the contrary. I lead a very demanding academic career with long hours, ravelling etc. I do get tired (after all I have one lung and they have chopped one of my thighs off) but work makes me feel more accomplished (and in the early years helped put my mind off the cancer) so I think it was good for me.

3) As for all the alternative medicine stuff on the market, like everyone else with cancer I did look into that as well. After reading quite a bit of stuff (quite some time ago I must admit) I did decide to take this herbal tea called Essiac (or the equivalent brand called Flore Essence) which you can get on-line. I have stopped taking it (I took it for 4-5 years but then I have gone a bit lazy!). You can have a look at it and see if it is for you (it may have had simply a placebo effect but it made me (and my parents) feel more optimistic as I felt I had ticked that box as well. I think being in good spirits is vital so whatever works is worth looking into."