Recovering From Surgery

Transcript

Things are really changing with regards to colon cancer surgeries, or colon surgeries in general now. We’ll actually have our patients ambulate very early after surgery because we know that this actually stimulates the bowel and allows in aiding what I say is waking up after surgery.

When our patients lay in bed for extended periods of time, the GI system will actually shut down and then patients can get what we call an ileus, where the bowels aren’t working. They’ll actually get very nauseated or throw up and can extend the stay in the hospital. And so really I’ll tell my patients the best medicine for this is ambulation and moving around.

Also after colon surgery, we begin oral stimulation with liquids as soon as possible, even chewing gum, because this will also stimulate the GI tract and waking the GI tract up after surgery and facilitating bowel function.

Key Takeaways

1. Patients should move around very early after surgery because this stimulates the bowel.

2. When patients lay in bed for extended periods of time, the GI system will actually shut down and then patients can get what we call an ileus, where the bowels aren’t working.

3. After colon surgery, patients begin oral stimulation with liquids as soon as possible, even chewing gum, because this will also stimulate the GI tract and facilitate bowel function.