Father Has Esophageal Cancer!

My dad was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer back in November of 2008. He has now finished his chemo-radiation therapy. He went through 20 chemo & 25 radiation treatments. He is scheduled for surgery on April 9th. I have read a few recent articles on the net about research has shown that surgery is not any more beneficial when patients take the chemo-radiation route for treatment of esophageal cancer.

The actual survival rate of patients with chemo-radiation therapy alone is actually reported a little higher than patients that elected surgery after chemo-radiation treatment. He's already suffered through enough pain & discomfort through this time. Right now he's having some blood coming from the mouth & nose which is common from what I've read. I honestly don't know if he can handle surgery. He's already been diagnosed anemic & he's mal-nutritioned. He's lost over 50 pounds in 4 months & I don't feel his body can handle surgery.

BTW, he has been diagnosed as stage 2 cancer. He's currently on a feeding tube & his feeding has been increased to 8 cans of nutrition a day. He can't swallow anything & I mean anything by mouth. He can't even swallow water. I feel if his nutrition isn't improved until surgery then there's no way he can survive through it. Is backing out of surgery a possible option? I mean with these reports & research for this type cancer about not having any more benefit from surgery after receiving chemo-radiation treatment lead me to this concern.

His body hasn't got enough strength right now for sure & he has about a month before surgery. I just feel maybe he needs to option out of surgery after these treatments. Maybe not having surgery could lead to the cancer spreading but maybe he can opt for other treatment options like a pill or something besides surgery. The surgery is gonna be a long road to recovery & I honestly feel he's not got the strength to get through it. Any opinions or suggestions? Thanks!