Colorectal surgery can be scary, but it's more common than you might think. According to the American Cancer Society, there are around 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer in the United States annually. If you have colorectal surgery coming up, here's what you can do to prepare.



The Day Before

It's generally recommended that you don't eat any solid foods for 12 to 24 hours leading up to colorectal surgery, but you can have a little bit of food the day before you go in for surgery. Generally speaking, it's okay to have a light breakfast the day before you have surgery for colorectal cancer, but you should switch to a liquid diet for the rest of the day. If you're not sure if you can eat a light breakfast the day before your surgery, you can ask your surgeon.

Midnight

By the end of the night on the day before your surgery, you should stop eating and drinking until your surgery begins. Avoiding food and drink leading up to surgery helps prevent complications, so it's very important to make sure you're doing your best to stick to your diet leading up to your surgery.

The Day of the Procedure

Just like the previous hours after midnight, you aren't allowed to eat or drink anything on the day of your procedure. Making sure you get a light breakfast in and drink plenty of liquids the day before can help you make this more manageable, but it can be difficult to go a while without food or water. The good news is that you're almost there at this stage.

After the Procedure

Once your procedure is finished, you can start eating food and drinking water again. Make sure you talk to your doctor about eating the best diet for colorectal cancer and colorectal surgery recovery. Your doctor may recommend eating several small meals per day instead of eating a few large meals.

Surgery is one of the most common treatment options for colorectal cancer, but it's important to know what you're getting yourself into before you commit to surgery. Once you've scheduled your surgery, you need to follow these dietary restrictions leading up to the procedure to make sure everything goes right. If you have colorectal cancer that may require surgery, call Houston Community Surgical to schedule an appointment today.