Hello Kee138, 

I am sorry to hear your dad has been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. It's very difficult really to give an accurate prognosis - you will find averages and estimates but each individual is different so try not to focus too much on the timeframes you might be given as it can be really difficult even for the greatest experts to predict accurately. There is information on our website on survival for oesophageal cancer but your dad's oncologist will be best placed really to tell you more about his own outlook. You ask an interesting question and I am not sure myself if the prognosis is from when symptoms started or from diagnosis or from the moment of the appointment with the oncologist - I think that your oncologist will be best placed to clarify this for you as they will be very much aware of your dad's full medical circumstances and details.  Don't be frightened to contact them about this and asking them to clarify this for you - they will be happy to answer this question and you could drop a line to the oncologist's secretary if you prefer and see if they can find this out for you.

You could also try and give our cancer nurses a call as they might be able to guide you further on this - feel free to ring their helpline on this free number 0808 800 4040 - you can call them Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. 

I am so sorry to hear that surgery is not an option for your dad and I hope that you will hear from other members of our community who have had a similar diagnosis or who have been affected themselves by oesophageal cancer. 

Best wishes to you and your dad, 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator