Hello Amandavin, 

I am sorry to hear about your husband's recent oesophageal cancer diagnosis. It's great that the NHS is being superb and that he has been offered every possible test to get all the details and build the bigger picture as you put it nicely. Try if you can not to read prognosis estimations as these are just averages and you can't apply these averages to individual cases. So don't be alarmed if you can by what you read and I hope that with him being in the best possible care, treatment can start soon and that it will be a success. 

I can't help mentioning our biggest oesophageal cancer survival story here on Cancer Chat from davek  - you can read his story on his profile and I hope that it will bring you a bit of comfort during this difficult time. It's really hard to predict how a cancer will evolve for any individual so it's best to not take any statistics you read too seriously. 

I also wanted to put you in touch with another member I have just replied to whose husband has been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and who posted pretty much at the same time as you. Have a look at Maggie-May 's recent oesophageal cancer thread and feel free to drop her a line if you would like to do so. 

Best wishes and best of luck with the treatment. Let us know when you find out more and don't hesitate to send us updates on how he is doing. 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Thank you so much for this. I will do these things. Thank you again.

Hi Anandavin,

Firstly, I  am sorry to read about your husband’s diagnosis as I do understand how overwhelming it feels.

My husband is 3 years on from his Oesophagectomy. He was diagnosed with junctionsl cancer in October 2020 so a very difficult time because of COVID. He had 8 weeks FLOT which commenced end of January 2021 then the op on 4th May 2021. He did have complications but he then had 8 more FLOT IN August and finished his treatment end September. It’s not an easy road but people do make it through.

As the moderator rightly said try not to read to much on internet as everyone is an individual. we had great support from a friend of a friend who is now 5 years on from his operation and he went back to work as a Policeman! 

My husband touch wood is doing well so far so good. My main advice would be if possible and if needed gain weight as there will be weight loss and get as fit as possible especially the heart and lungs  by doing whatever exercise he can. 

I don’t tend to post these days but on looking for the old post came across a couple of posts and thought it might help to know people can have positive outcomes.

still keeping the faith

Milly

Hi,

It is an awful cancer but survival rates are higher now than they ever have been. Much of the data online is out of date and even the latest data is based on 5 year old data. When I was diagnosed at stage 4 I was told I had less than a 5% chance of surviving 5 years. That was in 2013 - which shows you shouldn’t apply average statistics to individual patients as none of us are average.

All you can really do is stick to the care plan and hope you’re one of the lucky ones. Bear in mind that the average patient is older than 67 and that many patients have other serious conditions as well as OC. 

Good luck!

Dave

Thank you Millie. This is useful and uplifting. My best wishes to you and your husband.

My wife has been diagnosed with Oesophageal squamous cancer T3N1 and is due to have a staging laparoscopy on Friday 24/5. My query on the low survival statistics is why are they so low. I know they are averages but why are over 50% dying within a year. My wife is thinking about chemo and radiotheraphy but not the surgery (it has been offered) as stats say she will have a difficult year and then die anyway. 

I’m no expert, but my understanding is that those stats take no account of age and comorbidities. 
The latest stats are available at https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/oesophageal-cancer/incidence#heading-One

Most people are over 80 and frail when diagnosed. A lot of people with OC have other pre-existing life-threatening conditions when diagnosed. This helps explain the high mortality rate within 12 months of diagnosis. I read somewhere that OC patients have higher rates of comorbidity than any other cancer type (over 60%).

“Why bother when the odds are stacked against me?” is a valid question but the raw statistics can be misleading. 

Good luck.
Dave

Thanks Dave. There is also lots of data I have founder under the site called NOGCA (national oesophago-gastric cancer audit) but no real detailed break down

found not founder.