feeding tube - esophageal cancer

  dear dr. thank you for your comments to date.  surgery was last night for my 75 year old fathers esophageal cancer.  cancer is "localized" however they could not remove tumor because the (celiac?) lymph nodes between the stomach and the heart were affected.  the dr said he would need a feeding tube until chemo could be started to reduce the tumor size to enable him to eat.  My questions is, assuming he did chemo and the terrible road ahead that route, how long would he live?, my second questions is if he did not take the feeding tube, how long would it take for him to die.  thank you again for your input in the past,  
  Mrs. Bells
_______________________________________
Dear Mrs. Bells,
The information that you request is very important for making decisions regarding your father's care.  Unfortunately, the survival numbers in the medical literature refer to population survival.  There is little accuracy in predicting the outcome of an individual patient.
The feeding tube will allow the staff caring for your father to provide him with fluids (to prevent dehydration)and nutrients to maintain his strength.  These are important considerations given his age and other concurrent medical conditions.  Although, an intravenous route could be used to provide fluids, this approach is more difficult for the patient and potentially riskier.  Failure to provide adequate fluids can lead to dehydration, impaired renal function, delays in the treatment of the tumor and possibly death.  These problems can develop over a period of several days if the fluid deficiency is severe.  
I wish you much strength and wisdom as you make a series of very difficult choices.
HFHSM.D.-rf
*keywords: esophageal cancer
0.2

[GUINESS1]

A related discussion, esophaageal cancer was started.