005 Gastric Sleeve, Spouses, & The Summer Day (my favorite poem)

by reeger on August 13, 2013

Wet grass

Episode 005

 BODY

In this episode: 

Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG): The gastric sleeve is the surgical removal, as in permanent removal, of approximately 85% of the stomach. The remaining stomach is long tube referred to as a sleeve.

We go over: The surgical techniques of creating a gastric sleeve.
The Risks
Does VSG work to assist with losing weight and how?

Anatomy Terms: 
Esophagus: Upper Part the GI track. Its the channel or tube that connects the mouth to the stomach.
Cardiac sphincter, AKA Lower esophageal sphincter: narrowing point where the esophagus and the stomach meet.
Gastric: refers to the stomach
Stomach anatomy: Picture a half deflated, soft balloon, kind of in the shape of a lima bean. This is generally the shape of the stomach. The top of the stomach is pretty much in the upper and just left of center of your abdomen. From there the stomach curves down and to the right. Since the stomach curves right, it makes sense that the inside top curve is smaller than the left sided bottom curve. Anatomically these areas are therefore called the the lesser and greater curvatures of the stomach.
Fundus: Top of the stomach: towards the head.
Pyloric sphincter: Bottom part of the stomach, that helps control the rate that food is passed into the small intestines.
Gastric vessels: surround the stomach and are veins and arteries that give and take blood to and from the the stomach.
Omentum: A layer of fatty tissue inside the abdomen that covers and protects the abdomen internal organs. Also know as the “watch dog or guardian of the abdomen.”
Duodenum: The first part of the small intestine after the stomach.

Surgical terms: 
Laparotomy: Open incision through the abdominal wall, generally larger enough to fit the surgeons hands.
Laparoscopy or Laparoscopic: A surgical technique completed with small incisions through which long thin instruments are placed, including the lens of a camera. The surgery is seen through the camera and watched on monitors above the patient.
Trocars: are enclosed cannulas used to keep the small incisions on the abdomen open, allowing the surgery team to easily pass instruments in an out of the abdomen.
Bougie: A long, slender, flexible instrument used to pass into the body to dilate or outline a space from the inside for those on the outside. In the case of the VGS, the bougie assists the surgeon by creating an anatomical marker along the lesser curvature of the stomach which the surgeon can follow while cutting and stapling the GS. Bougies come in different sizes. The larger the bougie the larger the sleeve.
Cautery: The use of electric current to burn tissue to prevent or stop bleeding
Anesthesiologist: A doctor who specializes in giving anesthetics, or sleeping drugs, during surgery.

MIND 
An important discuss regarding the surprising amounts of TENSION having weight loss surgery can cause, especially between the person and their loved ones.

SPIRIT
Life is often hard, challenging, exhausting. Right? Given this reality, having something that transports or emotionally moves you outside of your everyday stressors is very important. For myself I have a few tricks up me sleeve including reading poetry. The following is one of my all time favorite poems:
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar our of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
What moves you? I want to know.

In Peace and with Connection,

Reeger Cortell, FNP-C

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