Ovarian Cancer Surgery: When Can I Leave the Hospital?

“We keep patients in the hospital until we have good pain control with oral pain medications, normal bowel and bladder function, and the patient should be eating and drinking normally,” Dr. Carlson says, adding that, while patients are still in the hospital, the best thing they can do is to be up and about as much as possible. This means getting up and walking around in the hallways as much as you’re physically able to.

To help regain normal bowel control, Dr. Carlson says that he often recommends that his patients chew gum.

“It sounds simple and maybe a little bit silly,” Dr. Carlson says, but “we know that chewing gum does help with return of bowel function and can get the patients out of the hospital a little bit faster.”

You don’t usually have to stay in the hospital until you have a bowel movement, although Dr. Carlson says that doctors will often monitor you to make sure that you’re passing gas normally. This may not be something you want to think about or discuss openly with your care team, but it’s really important that you do so. The reason for this, Dr. Carlson says, is that about 25-40% of patients who undergo ovarian cancer surgery experience something called “ileus,” during which their small intestine becomes temporarily blocked and stops working as easily.

Ileus usually resolves itself on its own, Dr. Carlson says, but it does need to be monitored — especially because it can result in nausea and vomiting.

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