Liver Disease. And how serious it is?

We live in the UK and my Father-in-Law lives in France, we don't speak French but his Doctor managed to tell us he had Liver Failure. He has been very bloated the last couple of months and a couple of weeks ago was admitted to hospital as he had black stools and had thrown up blood, I believe this is called Variceal bleeding. They performed a procedure where they went in via endoscopy and put bands around the veins which were bleeding to stop it. He also had around 10 litres of fluid in total on two separate occasions, drained from his abdomen which I believe to be Ascites. I have read that having these symptoms suggests it is End Stage Liver Disease. My Sister-in-Law who lives with him keeps telling us now he is home that he seems fine and she's sure he'll "bounce back" but I think she is in denial. He is 84 and very thin, has not been eating much and has been sleeping all the time. Without blood test results are you able to give me an idea of life expectancy and how serious it is?