When can I eat after esophageal cancer surgery and what foods can I eat? Generally, after the anal venting (recovery of gastrointestinal motility) in 4-5 days after surgery, you can start to eat liquid, first drink a small amount of warm water to find the feeling of swallowing, and then start to drink rice soup, fish soup, vegetable soup, 6-8 meals of about 50-100ml each time; in 6-7 days, you can start to eat accompanied by liquid diet, such as thin rice, noodles, steamed egg custard, etc.; if no complications such as anastomotic fistula or gastric emptying disorder occur after eating, generally If no complications such as anastomotic fistula or gastric emptying disorder occur after eating, normal dry food such as rice, bread and vegetables can be eaten 2 weeks after surgery to prevent anastomotic stenosis. Why should I eat less and more after surgery? After esophagectomy, most of the esophagus is replaced by stomach up to the chest cavity, and the function of storing food in stomach is lost. Therefore, if you eat slightly more meals per day, you will feel full and uncomfortable, and you need to divide the original three meals a day into 5-6 meals to meet your daily nutritional needs. Can I eat chicken, duck and eggs after esophageal cancer surgery? Many patients listen to the advice passed down from acquaintances and neighbors after surgery, that chicken, duck and eggs are the things that promote tumor growth (called “hairy things” by the people) and cannot be eaten, which leads to nutrition failure, wasting and resistance decline, and brings adverse consequences. The above folklore lacks scientific basis. Chicken, duck, fish, eggs and milk are all nutrient-rich foods, which are precisely what post-operative esophageal cancer patients need and should be eaten more often. As for pigeon soup and old turtle soup, they do not have any necessary nutrients, so it is better not to drink them. How to treat and prevent acid reflux after surgery? Due to the loss of normal gastroesophageal anti-reflux mechanism, the esophageal stump is easily exposed to gastric acid or bile reflux environment, causing esophageal mucosal damage, the incidence of which is about 50%, and the long-term stimulation will cause reflux esophagitis. The main symptoms include heartburn, cough, and wheezing episodes, especially when the patient is in the supine position. Currently, the following treatments are commonly used: (1), change lifestyle, position and sleep posture elevate the head of the bed or pad the head and shoulders when lying down, maintain an upright position or take a walk after meals to avoid postural reflux and promote emptying. (2) Adjust diet structure and habits, advocate eating less and more, chew slowly, do not eat before bedtime, avoid high-fat, stimulating diet and acidic beverages, quit smoking and alcohol. (3), medication, including the use of H2 receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors and other acid suppressants, gastrointestinal motility promoters, gastric mucosa protectors, such as: omeprazole, domperidone, aluminum thiocarbonate tablets, etc. (4) If severe acid reflux symptoms occur at night and affect sleep, milk with soda crackers can be taken to buffer and neutralize gastric acid, which can sometimes have better effect. Do all esophageal cancer patients need adjuvant therapy after surgery? The concept of esophageal cancer as a systemic disease has been accepted by everyone, and the treatment mode of esophageal cancer has been changed to multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and TCM. So, do all esophageal cancer patients need chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy after surgical resection? The answer is no. If the esophageal cancer lesion does not invade the esophageal muscle layer and outer membrane, and there is no metastasis to the veins or lymph nodes, we call it “early stage esophageal cancer”, which is the medical term for “stage I” esophageal cancer, postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy can be avoided and regular review is sufficient. In addition, adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery for elderly esophageal cancer patients over 75 years old also cannot improve the survival rate. Because the body functions of elderly patients are declined in different degrees, they cannot easily recover from the bone marrow suppression and gastrointestinal reactions caused by chemotherapy. Why should I do nebulized inhalation before coughing up sputum? Because broad-spectrum antibiotics and phlegmolytic drugs are added to the nebulizer solution, which can not only melt and dilute the sticky sputum, making it easy to cough up, but also prevent respiratory tract infections. Why is it necessary to make early efforts to cough up sputum after surgery? Since tracheal intubation and inhalation of anesthetic drugs during surgical anesthesia stimulate the pharynx and respiratory tract mucosa and increase sputum secretion, it is necessary to cough up sputum as early as possible after surgery, otherwise sputum will block the trachea and bronchi, the gas enclosed in the alveoli will be absorbed gradually, the alveolar wall will shrink, the lobe or lung segment will atrophy, pulmonary atelectasis and pneumonia will occur, and in serious cases, hypoxemia and secondary lung abscess and abscess chest will be caused, which will affect the recovery after surgery. Effective coughing also enables the expanded lung to drain the accumulated blood, fluid or gas in the chest cavity from the chest drain in a timely manner, remove the drain as early as possible, and relieve the pain of carrying the tube. How to reduce the pain of incision caused by coughing? and perform effective sputum removal? The nurse or family members can place two hands on both sides of the patient’s incision to fix the chest wall to reduce the pain of the incision caused by vibration. You can ask the nurse to assist or press the tiantu point (at the tracheal ring of the sternotomy fossa) with your fingers to stimulate the trachea to trigger a firing cough. When coughing, inhale deeply, shut up and hold your breath for two seconds to expand the thorax, concentrate your full strength and cough hard, so that the large amount of gas in the trachea and bronchi will rush out and drive the sputum out. Do not open your mouth and cough lightly, because this kind of cough is only the flow of air in the respiratory tract, and is ineffective for gas exchange and driving sputum. Will coughing too hard collapse the incision? Many patients are afraid to cough hard after surgery, mainly because they are worried that coughing hard will open the incision. In fact, doctors use layer-by-layer suture method to close the incision to ensure that the incision is sufficiently strong to crack due to coughing, and this has never happened in clinical practice. Why can’t esophageal cancer patients with hoarseness have surgery? Hoarseness indicates that the esophageal tumor or metastatic lymph nodes have invaded the laryngeal nerve, which is already in the advanced stage of esophageal cancer. Is the recurrence of tumor when eating obstruction occurs after surgery? Early postoperative period (1~2 months), most of the obstruction in eating is benign stenosis of esophageal anastomosis, which can be solved by dilatation method. If feeding obstruction occurs gradually in the case of normal feeding more than half a year after surgery, it should be alerted to the recurrence of tumor. Once the symptoms are aggravated, gastroscopy and biopsy should be carried out in hospital in time to exclude the possibility of tumor recurrence.