Hi Davieshay and thank you for your post.

I’m really sorry to hear about your family member. It’s completely normal to feel worried and to want to know more.

Oesophageal cancer   is cancer of the food pipe (the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach). When it affects eating, it’s often because the tumour is making the tube narrower, so food cannot pass through easily. There is information on  how doctors can make swallowing easier on our webpage.

In the meantime their hospital specialist may have suggested a  special diet, such as soft or liquid foods. They may have been given a Patient Information Leaflet like the one from NHS Lanarkshire on soft diet information for patients.

We also  have information about the stages of oesophageal cancer  on our webpage which you may find helpful.

Survival rates are only general guides, based on large groups of people. They cannot predict what will happen for one person.

Every person’s situation is different. Things like overall health, tumour stage and grade,  treatment options and how well they respond to treatment  all matter a lot. The team looking after your family member will be the best people to explain what these stages mean for them.

If you can, it may help to go with them to appointments or write down questions beforehand.

I hope I have managed to answer some of your questions, and your family member knows more about their situation soon.

Please get back to us if you need any more information or support

It might help to talk things through with one of our nurses on the helpline. You can call for free on 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Kind regards

Tina

Heya. I’m really sorry to hear that. Thank you for making a post. Basically it is a cancer of the food pipe. The tumour makes it harder on you to eat food normally as the food pipe is narrowed. 0808 800 4040 Is the number for the helpline. I think you should call and see what they have to suggest. The team are in a better position to offer tailored advice and resources. I hope this is useful. Hugs. 

Hi I've also just been diagnosed with that. Stage 3 but counted as locally spread few local lymph nodes are affected (can't spell that other word lol). It's gone into my stomach rather than up into the tube so for me the suggestions are a total gastrectomy (I believe if the cancer is ABOVE the junction that is not the case) with intense pre and post chemo or palliative chemo (with immunotherapy...waiting on results). Not being given the best chances for some reason "in YOUR case" was mentioned at least once whatever that means.There's a really cool story and the guy is still on here his name is DaveK and he's still alive despite being told it was inoperable 13 years ago, so there's always hope even when it doesn't feel like it. He's a really good person to talk to. Feel free to friend me and maybe we can see this through together! Horrible thing to find out....I don't even feel sick just occasional stuck feeling and a lot of burping. As for difficulties swallowing if it's really bad they can put in a stent which is like a pipe inside to keep it open or a feeding tube (don't recommend the latter unless you really need it as I kept choking on mine, put in by surgeon as they didn't know I could still eat mostly fine! Gone now but apparently chemo can make it necessary later so bare that in mind.  Good Luck to you and your family. Hugs X