Hi Rem,

I'm afraid the answer is "it depends". 

There seems to be a high degree of luck involved, as the outcomes are so diverse. On one extreme, I've known people whose Oesophageal cancer started growing again within weeks of them stopping chemo. On the other extreme, I came off chemo in January 2014 and my inoperable and incurable Stage 4 Oesophageal cancer and the secondaries have been dormant since that time. I was never told I was terminal as such, but I was told I should expect to live between 2 and 18 months depending on how effective the chemo was. 

I was mentally prepared for the worst case scenario and had put my affairs in order. I'd even ticked off some big items on my bucket list but so far my luck is holding out. I now have a CT scan every 6 months and I'm taking nothing for granted.

I was at a Cancer data Conference a couple of weeks ago and speaker after speaker emphasised that the survival statistics they produce cannot be used as a predictive tool for individual cases as they are based on medians of an unweighted group of patients.

It would be worth pressing his Oncologist for more information, but bear in mind that any estimate given is unlikely to be 100% accurate.

Good luck

Dave

Thanks Dave - Glad to hear that your situation is as you state. I appreciate that everyone is different and no-one can give a clear cut vision of the future. My brother, Michael and I discuss how he is at the moment, but don't talk about anything further than the next infusion or event. We still plan things for the future as we would have done had he not had cancer and hope that everything will be OK. Notwithstanding the cancer, if you ignore the hair loss, he seems in good condition and this in itself gives us optimism - I suppose it is a case of looks OK, feels OK, then he's OK.....until we are told different.

Thanks again and keep well

Nick

Gosh, same question for us too. My fella has stage 4 stomach cancer, for 6 cycles of EOX, just had 3rd and now waiting of a scan. We only seem talk about the "here and now" although we have sorted out our  "affairs".... mortgage and were getting married in August (as a rush)......just don't know what to expect really, although this chemo seems to have done the trick so far, he couldn't swallow anything before it started, and now he's eating burgers and all sorts Hahahah which is ace! Keep in touch and hope all goes well x

Hi Gemini 23, thanks for your post - Yesterday Michael had his 5th infusion - everything seems to obe going surprisingly well and notwithstanding the possible, even probable outcomes, the mood is one of absolute optimism - lets hope that alls well that ends well and in the meantime, we need to stay supportive and caring - have beautiful wedding - NIck

Hi Gemini23.

I hope that your wedding went well - did you have burgers for the reception..hahaha. How is your fella. I hope that things are going well for him. My brother has had his scan after the 6 ECX cycles. He looks better than I have seen him for years, his hair is growing back and he is able to eat anything he wants. He has stopped the Chemotherapty and there has been a "slight Improvement". He is on a 3 month review and depending on how he gets on, he may or may not receive another cycle of 6 sessions. His energy levels are poor and he will continue to suffer from the side effects for some months. He now has to give himself an injection every day to prevent blood clots. So could be a lot worse and despite the statistics, we all remain optimistic that he will have many years to come.