The esophagus is a tube that connects the larynx to the stomach and allows food to pass quickly after eating. If you have had surgery, it means that a section or all of your diseased esophagus has been removed and the upper gastrointestinal tract has been reconstructed by making a “tube stomach” instead of the esophagus and by anastomosing the remaining esophagus and tube stomach.
After surgery, you may experience the following symptoms:
- A portion of the stomach has been removed, and the volume has become smaller. You may feel full after eating a little, but you will soon be hungry again;
- The cardia (the upper opening of the stomach) is removed, which can lead to reflux esophagitis, giving you symptoms such as acid reflux, heartburn, and coughing.
But rest assured that this does not affect your normal diet, just follow the diet below.
What should I eat during the transition phase of my post-operative diet?
After surgery, when the anastomosis is confirmed to be well healed by gastrointestinal imaging, you can resume drinking a small amount of water by mouth, and then transition to clear, liquid, or semi-liquid food; about 1 month, you can transition to soft food; if there are no obvious symptoms such as abdominal distension and abdominal pain, you can gradually transition to a general diet; within 6 months to a year, the diet should be light, soft, and easy to digest, avoiding coarse, hard, greasy, irritating, and too cold or too hot food.
In the postoperative dietary transition phase, dietary intake is limited, and meals in the fluid and semi-liquid phase are mostly soup and water with low nutrient density. Surgery stimulates the body to produce a series of metabolic stress responses, making the nutritional requirements increase. As a result, your intake of energy and/or protein has difficulty meeting normal nutritional requirements and may lead to malnutrition.
If you experience decreased eating or involuntary weight loss, you should seek prompt attention from your primary care physician or clinical dietitian for a comprehensive nutritional status assessment. If malnutrition does exist, early intervention should be provided to maintain or improve nutritional status and help you recover sooner.
What should I eat during the daily diet phase?
1. The daily diet should be based on the principle of “gradual and small meals” and not overeating.
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2. Avoid bending after meals, and bedridden patients generally adopt a 30 to 45 degree reclined position.
3. Dinner should not be too full, and do not go to bed immediately after a meal.
4. If symptoms of discomfort such as fullness are severe, gastrointestinal motility drugs, acid suppressants, and mucosal protectors can be taken to relieve symptoms if necessary, but they must be used under the guidance of a physician.
To learn more about the dietary principles and recipes for post-operative esophageal cancer, please read
Do I need to take supplements or health supplements?
It is a common thought for many people to have an illness or surgery and want to take some nutritional or health supplements to help their body recover. The market has a wide variety of nutritional and health products with different functions, and some even advertise that they have certain therapeutic effects.
We recommend that you get the right idea about these products. Nutritional supplements and health supplements are not therapeutic drugs, nor are they a substitute for food. Not all patients need to use nutritional supplements or health supplements. If you wish to take a little nutritional or health food, you should buy and use it reasonably under the guidance of a professional nutritionist; and read the instructions carefully to understand its main effects.