Meta title: Recovery after cancer surgery: Some best tips to recover fast!
Meta description:Discover more about how to recover after cancer treatments, and some tips: diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, and limiting the use of tobacco and alcohol!
Cancer treatments are emotionally distressing and highly overwhelming to handle. After undergoing several types of cancer treatments, including cancer surgery and other treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, many patients wait to return to the normalcy of life as a cancer survivor. If you have recently completed your cancer treatment and are slowly returning to normal life as a survivor, here are a few things you don’t want to miss! Read further.
In this article, we’ll discover more about the importance of a balanced diet, maintaining a good weight, good sleep, stress management, and avoiding smoking and alcohol—tips suggested by Oncare’s expert team during the recovery after cancer surgery.
Here’s what you do to take care of yourself after the cancer treatment
1. Eat a healthy, more balanced diet
After the cancer treatment especially your cancer surgeryconsult your oncologists and be clear about any food restriction and foods are avoided from the diet. Consider eating a lot of fruits and vegetables for enough nutrients and vitamins for fastening the recovery.
Follow these:
- Consider eating 2 or 3 bowls of fresh fruits and vegetables every day.
- Consider eating healthy fats, whole grains, omega-3 fatty acids, fatty fish, and walnuts in your diet.
- Include some protein-rich foods that are also low in saturated fat, including fish, lean meats, eggs, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
- Select healthy sources of carbohydrates, including whole grains, legumes, and fruits and vegetables, in the diets.
2. Maintain healthy weight
During cancer treatments, many patients might lose weight. Try to follow a healthy, balanced diet to regain your original weight to the healthy level. This would help to speed up the recovery process and give enough energy and stamina in the recovery process.
The majority of cancer survivors need to gain a healthy weight, and you should try to consult your oncologist and a dietitian to know what to eat and what not to eat. Maintaining a healthy weight helps to control nausea, pain, and some other side effects of cancer treatments.
3. Get Proper rest
Patients who are undergoing cancer treatments or recovering from cancer treatment’s side effects may have issues with sleep problems. Getting proper rest and sleep is significant to heal your body from several cancer treatments. Getting proper rest and sleep helps to refresh your mind and body to boost your brain function and improve your hormonal balance and also reduce blood pressure. Try to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night.
Consider resting and sleeping.
- Avoid drinking coffee just before sleep.
- Stick to a regular sleep schedule of at least seven hours of sleep.
- Exercise not more than one or two hours before bedtime.
Do not feel guilty for taking more time to rest or sleep, because your body needs time and relaxation to heal wounds from different types of cancer treatment.
4. Practice physical activities and exercise
Following regular exercise and physical activities might increase your energy levels and physical well-being after the cancer surgery; this might boost the recovery faster. If you are a cancer survivor, including physical activities improves the recovery timeline faster.
- Increases your physical strength and confidence
- Reduce the symptoms of depression and sadness
- Less anxiety and fear
- Lowers weakness and fatigue
- Improves overall mood
- Higher self-esteem and confidence
- Improved sleep cycle
- Lowers the chance of recurrence of cancer
- Experience a great sense of well-being.
5. Stress management
Cancer survivors often experience physical and emotional stress during cancer treatments, even after completing their cancer treatments. There is no physical evidence that managing stress can improve the time of cancer survival or recovery. Managing stress can greatly improve the quality of life of patients. Stress management might help relieve depression, anxiety, and some symptoms related to cancer.
6. Stop smoking and use of tobacco products
Stop the use of tobacco products and the habit of smoking for all. Smoking and chewing tobacco products increase your risk of cancer again if you are recovering from cancer treatments. Stopping the habit of smoking entirely might reduce the recurrence of cancer and lower the risk of a second type of cancer in people.
7. Limit or stop alcohol consumption
Consider limiting or stopping using alcohol if you have just completed your cancer treatments and are recovering from wounds, side effects, and emotional distress. However, it’s not clear yet that drinking alcohol after the cancer treatments can cause cancer recurrence in survivors. It’s better to avoid alcohol consumption during the recovery period.
Meanwhile, some studies suggest that it might increase your risk of secondary primary cancer in people. After completing the treatments, consuming alcohol might cause any possible negative interactions with cancer medications and treatments.
Consult Today
Recovering from cancer surgery is a crucial time period in any cancer patient’s life that requires a lot of care, attention, and support. Apart from getting follow-up treatments and post-cancer therapy, every cancer survivor needs to give more focus to their nutrition and diet, physical activities, stress management, and support. Following all these tips can improve every cancer survivor’s overall well-being.
At Oncare, we understand the value of post-cancer surgery care and support, and we offer personalized guidance to each cancer patient during their recovery time period.
If you or any loved ones of yours are having symptoms of cancer or planning to get guidance after your cancer treatments, then visit Oncare’s Cancer Center and book an appointment with our cancer specialist today. Get an estimated cost of cancer treatments today!