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What to expect after surgery

This is a general overview of what to expect. The process varies from hospital to hospital, and everyone will respond to surgery differently.

Recovery time

  • When you wake up after the operation, you will be in a recovery room near the operating theatre or in the intensive care unit.
  • Most people will need a high level of care. You can expect to spend time in the high dependency unit or intensive care unit before moving to a standard ward.
  • How long you stay in hospital will depend on the type of stomach surgery you had, your age and your general health.
  • You will probably be in hospital for 3–10 days, but it can take 3–6 months to fully recover from a gastrectomy.
  • Talk to your treatment team if you have any concerns about caring for yourself at home. If you think you will need home nursing care, ask about services in your area.

Help with your recovery

  • You will have some pain and discomfort for several days after surgery, which will be managed with pain medicines. You may be given tablets or injections, or you may have patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), which delivers a measured dose of pain medicine through a drip when you press a button.
  • Let your doctor or nurse know if you’re in pain so they can adjust your medicines to make you as comfortable as possible. Do not wait until the pain is severe.
  • You may have a dressing over the wound. The doctor or nurse will talk to you about how to keep the wound clean and free from infection when you go home.
  • After surgery you will have several tubes in your body, which will be removed as you recover. You may have a drip in your arm to give you pain relief and to replace your body’s fluids until you are able to drink and eat again. You may have a tube from your bladder (catheter) to collect urine in a bag. You may also have a feeding tube.

Eating and drinking

  • You will be unable to eat or drink straight after surgery.
  • When you can eat again, you will usually start with milk, soup, yoghurt and ice-cream. Then you will move to pureed foods and then to soft foods. This process happens over a number of weeks. Your treatment team will let you know when you are ready for more solid food.
  • Eating 6–8 small meals or snacks throughout the day is easier to manage than a few large meals. Ask the hospital dietitian for advice about meal and snack ideas and whether you need to take any nutritional supplements.
  • A feeding tube may be put into the small bowel through a cut in the abdomen. Special feeding formula is given through this tube while the join between the oesophagus and small bowel heals. The tube is usually removed after 3–4 weeks.
  • For more information about eating after surgery, see Managing side effects.

Activity and exercise

  • Your treatment team will probably encourage you to walk the day after surgery. Gentle exercise has been shown to help people manage some treatment side effects, speed up a return to usual activities and improve quality of life. Ask your doctor or nurse for guidance on the right activity levels for you and if there are any suitable exercise programs available in your area.
  • You will have to wear compression stockings for a couple of weeks to help the blood in your legs circulate and reduce the risk of developing blood clots.
  • Check whether you need to avoid driving and heavy lifting for a few weeks after the surgery.
  • A physiotherapist will teach you breathing or coughing exercises to help keep your lungs clear and reduce the risk of a chest infection.

For more on this, see our general section on Surgery.

→ READ MORE: Chemotherapy for stomach cancer

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Understanding Surgery

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This information was last reviewed in October 2021. View who reviewed this content.

Dr Spiro Raftopoulos, Gastroenterologist, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, WA; Peter Blyth, Consumer; Jeff Bull, Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Nurse Consultant, Cancer Services, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, SA; Mick Daws, Consumer; Dr Steven Leibman, Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeon, Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW; Prof Michael Michael, Medical Oncologist, Lower and Upper Gastrointestinal Oncology Service, and Co-Chair Neuroendocrine Unit, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Andrew Oar, Radiation Oncologist, Icon Cancer Centre, Gold Coast University Hospital, QLD; Rose Rocca, Senior Clinical Dietitian: Upper Gastrointestinal, Nutrition and Speech Pathology Department, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Letchemi Valautha, Consumer; Lesley Woods, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council WA.

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