Recovering from bowel cancer surgery

It is normal to have some pain and discomfort after your operation. Painkillers can help control this. If you are still in pain, tell the nurses. They might also need to change the dose or type of painkiller you are taking. Some painkillers can make you feel sick. Tell your nurse and they can give you medicines to help with sickness.

You may be given a spinal block during the operation. This is an injection of a long-lasting painkiller into the fluid around the spinal cord. It gives pain relief for up to 24 hours. Or you may have a continuous dose of painkiller into the spinal fluid through a fine tube and a pump. This is called an epidural.

Painkillers can also be given through a tube into a vein in your hand or arm (a cannula). The tube is connected to a pump. This is called a PCA (patient-controlled analgesia). You can give yourself an extra dose of painkiller when you need it by pressing a button on the pump. The machine is set so you get a safe dose.

Painkillers sometimes slow down your bowel function (constipation). If your bowels are not moving, tell your nurses. They can give you medicines to help.

Before you can go home, your pain needs to be controlled by tablets. You will be given a prescription for painkillers you can take at home as needed.

At first, you will be given fluids into a vein in your hand or arm. This is called a drip or intravenous infusion. When you are eating and drinking normally again, the drip is removed.

You usually have a tube put in during the operation to drain urine (pee) from your bladder. This is called a catheter. It is taken out when you are eating and drinking normally and can walk to the toilet.

You may have a nasogastric tube. This is a tube that goes up the nose and down into the stomach. It is used to remove fluid from the stomach until the bowel starts working again.

You may have a tube near to the operation wound that has a bottle attached to drain fluid away. A nurse will remove it after a few days, when fluid stops draining.

If you do not have a stoma, your wounds may be closed with stitches, clips or staples. A nurse at your GP surgery usually removes these after you go home. Sometimes a district nurse can come to your home to remove them. Some surgeons use dissolving stitches that do not need to be removed.

You may be given antibiotics to help prevent any wound infection. While you are in hospital and after you go home, tell your nurse or doctor straight away if your wound:

• becomes hot
• becomes painful
• bleeds
• leaks any fluids.

These can be signs that the wound is infected.

If you have a stoma, the hospital will give you stoma supplies to take home. When you have used these, you will need to order supplies from your pharmacy or direct from a specialist supply company. Your stoma care nurse can tell you about these.

We have more information about about managing a stoma.