"You can say the most critical moment is behind me," president Castro said in a handwritten statement published in the official daily, Granma, and accompanied by dozens of snapshots.
"Today I'm recovering at a satisfactory pace. I'll be receiving distinguished visitors over the next few days," he wrote.
"That doesn't mean that every activity (of mine) will be immediately covered by film and photos, although news coverage will always be provided."
Dressed in pyjamas in the latest pictures, president Castro said he lost weight dramatically in just a few days and that, after 34 days of convalescence, doctors had removed the last stitches from his
operation.
"We must all just as well understand, with a sense of realism, that a full recovery, like it or not, will take a long time," he said.
In addition, President Castro said he plans to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Cuba next week.
Delegates from 116 member countries and at least 50 heads of state are expected at the summit, which is expected to name president Castro as Non-Aligned Movement president for the second time. He also served as head of the movement 27 years ago.
Expected to attend are UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Arab League head Amro Musa of Egypt, and African Union chief Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo.
President Castro disappeared from public view days before July 31, when a statement was read on his behalf on television saying had temporarily handed over power to his brother, defence minister Raul Castro, while he recuperates from gastrointestinal surgery.
On August 14, the day after his 80th birthday, Fidel Castro issued a statement, and last Friday Cubans saw the country's long-time leader on television chatting in his sickbed with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
But no concrete information is available on president Castro's health, guarded as "a state secret" by the communist government.
"All of us must understand it is not convenient to systematically provide information or images on my state of health," president Castro wrote on Tuesday.