Post-operative guidance of esophageal cancer 1.Mentality: After surgical and other treatment measures, esophageal cancer and cardia cancer are completely possible to be cured. Therefore, you should have a correct understanding of your condition and the side effects during treatment, and must maintain an optimistic and cheerful mood, firmly believing that you can definitely overcome the disease. Esophageal cancer patients can mobilize the internal anti-disease mechanism of their body only by adjusting their mentality, establishing confidence and actively cooperating with the treatment, and negative pessimism is very detrimental to recovery. 2.Diet: After discharge from hospital, esophageal cancer patients can continue to have semi-liquid diet, such as lotus root powder, steamed egg, cereal porridge, rice porridge, rotten paste noodles, etc., gradually change from thin to thick, and then transition to soft food or even normal diet about one month after surgery. Patients with esophageal cancer can eat 5-8 meals a day according to their needs, and they should chew slowly when eating. Don’t avoid eating, all kinds of food can be eaten as long as they are light, fresh, nutritious and easy to digest, no spicy and stimulating food, no smoking and alcohol. 3.Position: Patients with esophageal cancer should not lie down to eat, do not lie down immediately after meals, take a proper walk for about 30 minutes before going to bed, sleep with upper body cushioned 30 degrees and try to sleep on the side facing the surgery. 4.Discomfort: If esophageal cancer patients have discomfort such as acid reflux, easy fullness, choking and coughing, there is no need to be nervous, because the cardia is removed and the gastrointestinal emptying function is weakened, so the food and gastric juice in the stomach and intestines will sometimes reflux into the esophagus causing discomfort, which can be relieved after the above-mentioned diet and position adjustment measures. to control. If you have diarrhea, it is often related to gastrointestinal disorder after surgery. Besides paying attention to clean food, you should avoid eating greasy food to avoid aggravating diarrhea symptoms. If you feel pins and needles pain and numbness in the surgical wound, it is related to the severing of nerves in the chest wall during the surgery, you should be patient, and the discomfort will slowly subside after several months. 5.Follow-up: Patients with esophageal cancer should insist on long-term regular follow-up. It should be reviewed once every three months within two years after surgery, then once every six months, and can be extended to once a year after the fifth year. The doctor will review your chest X-ray, chest CT, abdominal B-ultrasound, etc. Other examinations such as whole body bone scan and MRI may also be performed according to your needs. If you have any other questions, you are always welcome to consult us. Our general thoracic surgery clinic is available every Monday to Saturday morning. 6.Chemotherapy: If esophageal cancer patients need to receive postoperative chemotherapy, it usually starts 3-4 weeks after surgery. Anti-emetic drugs such as Cardan and Obey can be injected half an hour before chemotherapy to reduce gastrointestinal reactions. This regimen is repeated once a month and may take 2-6 times depending on the situation. Before each chemotherapy, blood test should be done to check the white blood cell and liver and kidney function. If the white blood cell is <3500 or the liver and kidney function is abnormal, then chemotherapy should be temporarily suspended. 7.Radiotherapy: If doctors tell esophageal cancer patients need to receive radiotherapy, they should listen to the arrangement of radiotherapy doctors and adhere to radiotherapy daily, usually starting 3-4 weeks after surgery, and the course of treatment will take about 2-6 weeks. 8.Chinese medicine: esophageal cancer patients can take Chinese medicine, including Chinese patent medicine and Chinese herbal medicine, at the same time of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It is recommended that you take the medicine under the guidance of experienced Chinese medicine practitioner, and do not take some so-called secret recipes or partial prescriptions casually to avoid the harm of toxic side effects. Patients with esophageal cancer should note that it is totally wrong to say that Chinese medicine has no side effects. If necessary, you can also apply some immunomodulatory drugs and biological products such as interferon under the guidance of doctors to enhance the anti-cancer mechanism in your organism. 9.Tonic: Patients with esophageal cancer can take some health care products to speed up recovery, improve immunity and reduce the toxic side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, please note that the current health care products market is confusing, so please do not believe in the untrue propaganda of some unscrupulous manufacturers and be alert to being cheated. If esophageal cancer patients need to take certain health care products, it is better to seek the advice of doctors beforehand. 10.Work: Esophageal cancer patients need a period of recuperation and recovery because of the large trauma of surgery, which is often supplemented by chemotherapy or radiotherapy after surgery, and then rest for 2-3 months after the end of these treatments, depending on their physical condition, they can gradually resume work and generally be capable of any work except heavy physical labor.