 The patients in the gum chewing group intervention group will chew one stick of gum the first post-operative day, after the nasogastric tube is removed or if they patient does not have a nasogastric tube, with the head of bed elevated a minimum of 30 degrees for 30 minutes, three times a day at set intervals: 0900, 1400, and 2100. Sugar-free gum was used in all previous studies. Therefore, sugar free gum Orbit Spearmint Sugarless Gum will be used in this study. The gum will be kept in the Accudose cabinet and distributed by the medication nurse. The gum chewing regimen will continue until the first bowel movement. All patients in the non-intervention group will receive the standard preoperative and postoperative regimens. Patient demographics that will be collected include gender, age, current medical condition, pre-operative medications, type of surgery, operative duration in minutes, time left OR, anesthesia duration in minutes, estimated operative blood loss, whether the patient had an epidural or a PCA, date and time nasogastric tube was discontinued, length of stay, date of discharge, complications, and post-operative ileus. Patients and nurses will be instructed on how to complete the bedside bowel record to the nearest hour. 