Cathy:
Sorry about that; I do that often and I guess it's part of the "short term memory loss". I hope that you have a sense of faith and trust in your EP. I have to say that all the time I was sick and in a coma, it was Hugh Calkins who was there on a daily basis, communicating with my family. Often even twice a day. He didn't have to do that. As soon as I went to open heart surgery, I was switched to primary care of the surgeon, and Dr. Calkins really never had to see me again, but he is a very caring person, and felt terrible about what happened to me. Then the surgeon left town the day after my surgery and went on vacation for 2 weeks. I know he was shocked to come back to Baltimore and find me in a coma and on a ventillator. One of the problems with huge teaching hospitals is lack of continuity of care. If you should run into problems, you're seen on a given day by which ever resident has "the duty" that day. Seemed to my family that no one was really in charge. So there are pros and cons to teaching facilities.
One advantage at Hopkins is that after what happened to me, I feel that no one will be more cautious with those mapping catheters than they will be. Unfortunate that we have to learn these things at such a cost.
Cathy, did you ask them if they are using ICE technology? Also, they suggested that perhaps one reason that the loop became entangled and they were unable to release it, was that they were using a new "decapolar" catheter, or wone with ten sensors instead of the usual five. They thought that may have contributed to the entanglement; however, the catheter manufacturer directions say "should you encounter entanglement DO NOT pull or force the catheter out, but the patient should be taken immediately to surgery to extract the catheter and avoid damage to the mitral valve.
I also think that Hopkins probably has about as good a success rate as any of the major centers, being #6 rated hospital in the country for Cardiology (US News and World Report). I don't think I am part of their stats since they never called or sent any survey to see whether I had afib. I guess they probably knew it was not real likely a success. When the catheter became entangled, they had done 2 PVs, the two upper. One of the two lower was ablated during open heart surgery, but the fourth was not done. I don't think I was billed for the ablation, but they did bill my insurance company for the open heart/valve replacement $106,000.00 which my insurance company paid. My insurance company then raised my rates. My insurance now is unbelievable, unaffordable. I have to find ways to pay it, as after what happened to me, no one would sell me health insurance. Hopefully one day I can get Blue Cross from Medicare.
Have you set a date yet Cathy? Stay in touch. I'll be thinking about you.
One last thing, you posted this message to Rich Burr and I don't usually answer for other people, and gave him 24 hours before I posted my message. I don't think he gets on too often. Last I heart he was afib free from the start!! He's probably up and about his business.
Be well Cathy,
Pam
