Joe-
In May of 1999, I had a basic 2 1/2 hour uneventful flutter ablation. But flutter returned. Doctor said he missed an area. Agreed to go back again. Traumatic 8 hour ordeal. Two doctors working on me. They said they ablated 2 arrythmias, but there was still a tachycardia and my "real life flutter". About one year later, this doc got a new mapping system so I agreed to try it again-- hoping that three times would be the charm and desparate for a cure. It was successful. But about 15 hours later, the afib showed up. Different combinations of cardioversions, Soltalol, Moricizine (Ethmozine), Diltiazem, Lopressor, Atenolol, etc. eventually all failed to work(they did work for about 4-6 months). So when I got to that point, my decision wasn't so hard. I could either load up on betablockers for the rest of my life to prevent heart failure or go for the ablation. So I got the pulmonary vein ablation at Cleveland Clinic on August 4th, 2003. I think I'm glad I did, but I won't be sure until I get all the results from the follow-up tests done. Starting to sweat over that a little. Maybe someday I'll do a complete history--but this is a bare bones answer. Thanks for asking.
njb
