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One month post ablation CCF
Posted by Newman
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Newman
One month post ablation CCF November 14, 2003 05:27PM |
One month ago today I had an ablation at the Cleveland Clinic by Dr Natale.
I hope this report is of interest to some of you.
My history is 19 years of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, starting with one event a year lasting one hour, but with the number of events and average duration of events increasing every year. Last year I averaged about eight events a month with an average duration of about twenty hours, thus I was in afib 25% of the time last year. My longest event was five days. Thruout the 19 years, I always converted back to normal sinus rhythm spontaneously. The last three years I have been taking Lanoxin (Digoxin), Toprol XL (Lopressor), and Coumadin (Warfarin). I am 63 years of age.
As reported previously on this board, the ablation was very easy for me. It was better than a vasectomy, but worse than a haircut.
While watching the monitor and taking my pulse while in the hospital the day after the ablation, I felt and saw quite a few skipped beats (pauses?, SVCs?, PACs?, DUIs? I don't know what to call them). It is about a half a beat skip. Ie., instead of an interval of one between beats, it felt like an interval of one and one-half between beats. Before my ablation they were daily events. I almost always had occasional skips. I have probably had millions in my life. Anyway, I felt and saw these, and I said "Oh No"! The nurse said not to worry. So I took her at her word.
The first 15 days after my ablation I had no afib and just a few skipped beats on a few days. Only normal sinus rhythm. On day 15 I said to myself "Now ain't this something"! I was pretty sure I was cured.
On day 16, and for the next five or six days, I had numerous skipped beats. I also had a weird beat which, after transmitting to CCF, the doctor said was called bigeminy. I had it for an hour on two different days, and also one night I had it when I went to sleep. NSR when I awoke. Also during this five or six day period, I had one afib for one minute, one for five minutes, and one for one hour. I was thinking that things were going downhill.
On about day 21 or 22 or 23, BINGO. NSR. Normal sinus rhythm with none of the other junk. Just a very occasional skip. Day 30 I had about 30 seconds of afib, and today I had about 30 seconds of afib.
In summary, since my ablation, I have had five afib events for a total time of 67 minutes in one month. This compares with my preablation average of 160 hours of afib in one month. This is encouraging.
My NSR heartrate before the ablation averaged about 55 BPM. Since the ablation, my NSR heartrate has averaged abot 75 BPM. As I stated above, I was on Toprol XL both before and after the ablation. However, I was on Lanoxin before the ablation, but not after the ablation. Therefore, my heartrate increase of 20 BPM was either caused by the ablation, or by no longer taking Lanoxin, or a combination of both. I can't be sure. I have often read posts from people who said they had an increase in their heartrates after their ablations, so that is probably the reason.
My very special friend Sadia, who is from Bolivia, and who sat up with me all night in the hospital in Cleveland, and refused to go to the hotel to get some sleep, and who has a wonderful sense of humor, whenever we get together always gives me her impish smile and asks "Is your new battery doing good?" I believe I can report today that my new battery is doing good!
Newman
I hope this report is of interest to some of you.
My history is 19 years of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, starting with one event a year lasting one hour, but with the number of events and average duration of events increasing every year. Last year I averaged about eight events a month with an average duration of about twenty hours, thus I was in afib 25% of the time last year. My longest event was five days. Thruout the 19 years, I always converted back to normal sinus rhythm spontaneously. The last three years I have been taking Lanoxin (Digoxin), Toprol XL (Lopressor), and Coumadin (Warfarin). I am 63 years of age.
As reported previously on this board, the ablation was very easy for me. It was better than a vasectomy, but worse than a haircut.
While watching the monitor and taking my pulse while in the hospital the day after the ablation, I felt and saw quite a few skipped beats (pauses?, SVCs?, PACs?, DUIs? I don't know what to call them). It is about a half a beat skip. Ie., instead of an interval of one between beats, it felt like an interval of one and one-half between beats. Before my ablation they were daily events. I almost always had occasional skips. I have probably had millions in my life. Anyway, I felt and saw these, and I said "Oh No"! The nurse said not to worry. So I took her at her word.
The first 15 days after my ablation I had no afib and just a few skipped beats on a few days. Only normal sinus rhythm. On day 15 I said to myself "Now ain't this something"! I was pretty sure I was cured.
On day 16, and for the next five or six days, I had numerous skipped beats. I also had a weird beat which, after transmitting to CCF, the doctor said was called bigeminy. I had it for an hour on two different days, and also one night I had it when I went to sleep. NSR when I awoke. Also during this five or six day period, I had one afib for one minute, one for five minutes, and one for one hour. I was thinking that things were going downhill.
On about day 21 or 22 or 23, BINGO. NSR. Normal sinus rhythm with none of the other junk. Just a very occasional skip. Day 30 I had about 30 seconds of afib, and today I had about 30 seconds of afib.
In summary, since my ablation, I have had five afib events for a total time of 67 minutes in one month. This compares with my preablation average of 160 hours of afib in one month. This is encouraging.
My NSR heartrate before the ablation averaged about 55 BPM. Since the ablation, my NSR heartrate has averaged abot 75 BPM. As I stated above, I was on Toprol XL both before and after the ablation. However, I was on Lanoxin before the ablation, but not after the ablation. Therefore, my heartrate increase of 20 BPM was either caused by the ablation, or by no longer taking Lanoxin, or a combination of both. I can't be sure. I have often read posts from people who said they had an increase in their heartrates after their ablations, so that is probably the reason.
My very special friend Sadia, who is from Bolivia, and who sat up with me all night in the hospital in Cleveland, and refused to go to the hotel to get some sleep, and who has a wonderful sense of humor, whenever we get together always gives me her impish smile and asks "Is your new battery doing good?" I believe I can report today that my new battery is doing good!
Newman
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Pam
Re: One month post ablation CCF November 14, 2003 11:08PM |
Newman:
So happy to read about your success with your "new battery". You sound like a free bird. Your post was wonderful as always, and I hope you will continue to read and post, as you have so much information to impart to the newbies, and encouragement for those with "old batteries".
Stay well Newman,
Pam
So happy to read about your success with your "new battery". You sound like a free bird. Your post was wonderful as always, and I hope you will continue to read and post, as you have so much information to impart to the newbies, and encouragement for those with "old batteries".
Stay well Newman,
Pam
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Sammy
Re: One month post ablation CCF November 15, 2003 02:43AM |
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njb
Re: One month post ablation CCF November 16, 2003 02:58PM |
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