Andreas - NED after dx 15 years ago - herbals / lifestyle

[Fictional]

I recently heard back from Dr Andreas Kontoleon who was diagnosed with metastatic ASPS in 1994. I added him to the personal cases section on the forum and if he posts - you can remove my posts, Olga.

He did have one thoracotomy, but the surgeons did not recommend the other side as there was evidence of more nodules and he already had a lobectomy. Fortunately the other nodules stabilized - and did not have to do any further treatments

This is what he added in his email (he said "in case it helps"):

"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."