Recovery after stoma surgery: week by week

Stoma operations vary: an emergency one after a perforation, a planned one during cancer surgery and a temporary one to protect a join do not recover in the same way. The ranges here are taken from NHS and hospital pages and are typical only; your surgical team and stoma nurse decide what applies to you.

You wake with a drainable bag already over the stoma, which the NHS describes as swollen and possibly oozing a little blood at first. Calderdale and Huddersfield says staff empty the bag until you feel confident, and the NHS says the stoma nurse makes sure you are comfortable wearing and changing it before you go home.

Output is watery at first and then thickens: paste-like from an ileostomy and more formed from a colostomy, according to Calderdale and Huddersfield. Small, regular meals are recommended. Ask the nurses to show you the routine more than once, with a family member if you wish.

Worcestershire describes an ileostomy pouch changed every one to two days and a colostomy pouch changed about twice daily. Chelsea and Westminster advises emptying an ileostomy bag when about half full, drinking 1.5 to 2 litres of fluid and building protein and carbohydrate into meals; it warns that large pieces of undigested fibre can cause a painful blockage, so low-fibre eating helps early on.

Watch for dehydration: dizziness, thirst, headaches, dark or scanty urine and muscle cramps. Contact your stoma nurse about sore skin, a bulge, prolapse or leaking. Your community stoma team normally takes over after discharge, and Worcestershire notes that its team supports people for as long as needed.

• Re-measure the stoma with your nurse as it shrinks.

• Keep fluids up, particularly with an ileostomy.

• Ask for support garments or exercise advice before returning to activity.

Milton Keynes advises against heavy lifting for about four weeks after a subtotal colectomy and ileostomy, and it also asks you to check your insurer before driving and to be sure you can do an emergency stop. GOV.UK says that anyone who cannot control a vehicle safely must not drive and that the DVLA should be told if you cannot drive three months after an operation.

Worcestershire's pre-operative counselling covers sexual function, exercise, travel and body image, so use the stoma nurse for these questions. Return to work depends on the job and on whether your stoma is well settled; ask for a phased return.

The NHS says reversal is at least six weeks after an ileostomy, and North Bristol says that some wait several months because of health or chemotherapy. It describes an operation of about 90 minutes and says most people stay one night, going home if they manage fluids, a light diet, walking and pain control.

North Bristol describes liquid motions for days to weeks and looser, more frequent stools lasting up to six months for some. It advises avoiding lifting more than a half-filled kettle for two weeks and not at all for six, driving only when you can make an emergency stop comfortably (at least two weeks, with some insurers asking for six), and delaying physically demanding work for six weeks.

Contact your stoma nurse for skin problems, leaks, a bulge or a stoma that sticks out. Go to the emergency department for severe abdominal pain with vomiting and no output, heavy bleeding or severe dehydration, and call 999 if very unwell. NHS 111 can direct you out of hours.