This thread will cover my ablations with Dr Natale and I will do my best to keep it current along the way. Enjoy. They say that time flies and it surely does. Failed ablation in January, Medications I had been using for years stopped working. Cardioversion in April. Then starting new medications (Ticosyn) shortly after that worked spartically. Now in just a few days I will be having an ablation with Dr. Natale. My last dose of Ticosyn was Friday evening and I started to taper off the Metoprolol. I will continue to tale Elequis straight through. I didn't have to stop the Ticosyn until Sunday but I spoke to my nurse and asked if it would be OK to stop a day or two early as I wanted to be certain that as much of it was out of my system as possible before the ablation. She said that would be fine so I did. I'm also down to a single dose of metoprolol. Now the weird thing is that I have had nothing but issues since starting the Ticosyn. It didn't keep in me rhythm all the time. Sometimes I would stay in NSR for several days and other times several hours. Even up until last week I was in and out of rhythm a few times. But since I stopped on Friday I have only had a few stray odd heartbeats.Now I am not complaining as I figured I would be out of rhythm and miserable until Friday. Don't get me wrong. I am more than happy to not be miserable but it does strike me as odd. Especially with all the issues I have had up until this point. Anyway, I am leaving for the airport soon and have an appointment for a CTA and I will finally get to meet the nurses and Dr Natale tomorrow in Austin. Needless to say I am excited. I also want to thank everyone here for their kindness and support along the way. I also want to recognize Shannon and his passion for this site and for helping people. https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,163608#msg-163608 Sat, 26 Sep 2026 19:14:33 +0000 Phorum 5.2.23 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,183952#msg-183952 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,183952#msg-183952
This is completely out of left field for me as last Dr. Natale and I spoke I was not eligible. I phoned and left a message with the scheduler as well as an email to Trent requesting information as to what has changed.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Tue, 11 Jan 2022 22:51:15 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,183873#msg-183873 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,183873#msg-183873
Not much to report these days. still get a few ectopics but other than that its been wonderful NSR 24/7. Been doing allot of hiking this fall and winter. Hoping to get some snow before spring to be able to get out on the XC skis and or snowshoeing.

The only real exciting thing is that my son ad I both had covid right after Thanksgiving. Fortunately we were both recovered before Christmas and were able to spend time doing the things we like to do and spent allot of time with family. Had a great New Years Eve In the city.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Fri, 07 Jan 2022 06:23:51 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,182769#msg-182769 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,182769#msg-182769
I am fighting to keep from falling back into old habits that most likely lead me here. I've been doing good keeping things in check on the bike. However, I have started running with my son a few days a week and have been letting my heart rate get higher than I normally do on the bike for extended periods.

I've also been doubling up by riding earlier in the day 30 - 50 miles. Then hitting the track with my son later in the day. I need to start wearing my HRM when we run as I'm just using the on on my Garmin watch which probably isn't the most accurate. Though on the bike it seems to be within an acceptable range to the chest strap.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Sat, 09 Oct 2021 20:52:22 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,182206#msg-182206 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,182206#msg-182206
I still get the occasional ectopic but beyond that nothing but NSR.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Thu, 26 Aug 2021 12:24:49 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,180724#msg-180724 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,180724#msg-180724 Ride a rollercoaster today for the first time in many years.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Fri, 14 May 2021 16:15:29 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,179438#msg-179438 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,179438#msg-179438 rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Tue, 16 Feb 2021 05:36:58 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,179181#msg-179181 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,179181#msg-179181
Still on Elequis and Metoprolol. The Elequis is forever so far as I can tell. I do hope to get off the metoprolol. I actually already don't take it on days I'm off work. As I am more active on those days and like not having to deal with the side affects.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Wed, 27 Jan 2021 12:29:34 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178635#msg-178635 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178635#msg-178635
I had already moved 4" before going to work and from what my wife said her and my son moved another 12" in the evening. They had to use shovels though since I pulled the start cord from the blower when trying to start it earlier in the day. So they didn't do as much of the drive as I had earlier.

Moved snow until around 8:30 and went to bed. Back to it at 1:30 to finish digging myself and neighbor out. No heart issues at all. What a great feeling.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Fri, 18 Dec 2020 00:21:30 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178599#msg-178599 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178599#msg-178599
I have had brief syncope events since I was very young but only when standing from a sitting position. When those happened things would just go dark but I never passed out. I would just keep moving or if it lasted a little while longer I would just stand there and wait for the lights to come back on. I never got the deck during those brief episodes. I have however found myself on the ground a couple times in recent years. Once prior to my ablation in 2018 and once about a year or so later. Fortunately I was at home when these 2 happened.

I continue to spend several days a week hiking. Did about 20 miles over 3 days last week. Headed out in the morning for a 9 mile jaunt.There are some great trail systems throughout the mountains here in Pennsylvania. I did a 5 mile hike last week at a local recreation area. Part of the area belongs to the county and the other a local college.

The county side has just a trail system. The college side has trails, disc golf, a very short ski/sledding hill and a par course. The course is made up of several stations where you do different exercises. These range from situps to pull ups and everything in-between. My hike only took me through part of the course but it was a good workout.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Mon, 14 Dec 2020 04:02:47 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178317#msg-178317 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178317#msg-178317 rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Thu, 26 Nov 2020 13:49:46 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178183#msg-178183 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178183#msg-178183 Had a call off last night so I got to leave for 6 hours and come back to work another 16. Top that off with a multitude of alarms and faulty equipment first thing pushing stress levels from 0-100.
Oh well. I'll get to leave for 8 hours tomorrow morning @0400]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Thu, 19 Nov 2020 20:41:39 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178082#msg-178082 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,178082#msg-178082
Been taking it easy though with the beautiful weather staying off the bike was hard to do. I did spend a couple days doing some light yard work.

At the gym right now easing myself back into that. Limiting myself to 1/2 my normal training loads. Plan to get out and do some hiking this week. Had planned to go today but the weather went from warm/☀️/dry to 🆒/ ⛈️.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Wed, 11 Nov 2020 18:04:04 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177982#msg-177982 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177982#msg-177982
He also addressed a right atrium, non-sustained arrhythmia triggered by targeted electrograms. Superior vena cava isolation was also performed.
(Shannon if your reading this please chime in for more detailed clarification of LAA or anything else for that matter.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Wed, 04 Nov 2020 16:57:44 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177931#msg-177931 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177931#msg-177931 MissSunshine AFIBBERS FORUM Mon, 02 Nov 2020 00:32:59 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177930#msg-177930 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177930#msg-177930
One major difference this time around was my fitness level going into it. Not nearly as fit as I was back in 2009 but a far cry better than 2018 & 2019. Actually I would like to completely forget about 6 months worth of 2018 if it were at all possible.

Still sluggish today. Didn't sleep as well as I thought I would last night. Heart rate is rather low. Lingering between 54 and 64. I am currently only on Elequis and 25mg of metoprolol. I should be able to toss the metoprolol at the end of my blanking period so 3 months of governored heart rate which I am more than happy to deal with.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Mon, 02 Nov 2020 00:18:58 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177917#msg-177917 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177917#msg-177917 It's easy to tell who those are as they are the ones wearing Tyvek suits and full head covering masks and rubber gloves. These folks also spend an abundence of time cleaning their gloved hands with hand sanitizer. While the rest of us are obviously ignorant to the situation that we find ourselves in.
Anyways, our trip home from Austin was pretty boring. Had a two hour layover in Atlanta and a 2 hour drive home from Pittsburgh international. So it was a long day to say the least.
I did sleep really good last night though. Bed at around 11pm and out of bed @2pm today. I really needed it as I hadn't slept much since finishing up night shift Monday morning. Not counting surgery I was averaging about 4 hours a day this week.
Our stay in Austin was plesent but shorter than normal. We stayed in the downtown this time. Things were pretty quiet there this time. I'm sure it was mostly due to Covid and the normal afternoon/evening crowds we are used to seeing are people leaving work and hanging out. Who aren't there now due to working form home.
We did spend part of an afternoon on South Congress wondering through the small shops there.
I'm feeling really good today and looking forward to a week or so of just being.
I can't express enough how appreciative I am of Dr. Natale and his team. As well as the staff at St David's. I really tried to convey that to everyone but still feel I need to do more.

]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Sat, 31 Oct 2020 20:10:27 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177912#msg-177912 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177912#msg-177912 rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Fri, 30 Oct 2020 15:10:04 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177891#msg-177891 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177891#msg-177891
If you have read through this post I have mentioned that my LAA is really small and that he is unable to use his normal LAA tool.

We will talk not tomorrow with the rest of his team.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Wed, 28 Oct 2020 23:27:18 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177883#msg-177883 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177883#msg-177883 rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Wed, 28 Oct 2020 04:26:28 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177831#msg-177831 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177831#msg-177831
This is literally how things started out for me all those many years ago.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Thu, 22 Oct 2020 00:13:05 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177688#msg-177688 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177688#msg-177688 rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:42:18 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177656#msg-177656 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177656#msg-177656
Towards the end of the ride I got split from the group as I hesitated at an intersection and had to wait on some traffic to pass. So I sprinted to catch up but still felt good at this point. A few miles down the road though my HR jumped to 188 bpm for about 10 seconds or so the right back to 149 bpm. Not sure if it was as short run of afib or a run of ectopic beats. My wahoo HRM just does HR nothing else. I felt fine the entire time and the remaining 5 miles were uneventful.

I have a visit scheduled with Dr. Natale for November 3 to hopefully address this final lingering issue and be done with it.

Oh and Goat YOGA is a thing. Who new?]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Sat, 10 Oct 2020 16:51:34 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177349#msg-177349 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177349#msg-177349 It's all rather strange. What I'm experiencing now is almost identical to what I experienced back in the very beginning of my afib journey.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Tue, 22 Sep 2020 22:17:33 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177340#msg-177340 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177340#msg-177340
Be well,
Shannon]]> Shannon AFIBBERS FORUM Tue, 22 Sep 2020 01:46:33 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177338#msg-177338 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177338#msg-177338
I did speak with Dr Natale today. Based on recordings I have sent him and my personal accounts as to what's going on. He feels it a good idea to take one more crack at my LAA.

As stated before this is where I had an organic afib episode on the table that originated there after he had already done some work to it. According to what he said to me the last time I was there my LAA is of an odd size and he had to address it differently than he normally does. He also felt that I was on to something with the correlation between eating and the arrhythmias I'm experiencing.

He also wants to do a watchman at the same time if we can. That will get me off of the anticoagulant.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:45:37 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177142#msg-177142 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177142#msg-177142 NotLyingAboutMyAfib AFIBBERS FORUM Sun, 13 Sep 2020 02:53:10 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177015#msg-177015 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,177015#msg-177015 However, I think I might have found a link or at least a trigger. I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what's going on as I go out of rhythm at rest. One thing I've been noticing is it seems to happen after I eat. Like I said I've been paying more attention since the latest onset of a fib and each time I've been burping or had something going on relative to my stomach.
I was in a discussion with some people on a another group that's cycling related. Everyone in the group either has afib or has had an ablation or is treating themselves homeopathically. During one of the conversations this other ad or discussion popped up talking about issues with the heart related to the stomach.
The article talked about hiatal hernias and other gastric issues affecting the pheneric nerve thus causing an arrhythmia. It also talked about a relation between CPAP and the gastrointestinal system and arrhythmias. Oddly enough not too long ago and when I was trying to put my CPAP on the air pressure was so high it was blowing the mask off my face. I was able to get it straightened out and get it to work so I did wear it that night and talk to the company and they investigated it and downloaded something to my machine. However it made me think that if it was doing that while I was awake what was possibly happening when I was sleeping.
Long story short I've been watching my diet and getting back to doing what I enjoy most which is cycling.
Since last Friday I've traversed over 120 mi. None of them easy. And it had zero issues. This doesn't make sense to me especially with my history with cycling and afib.
I'm to call Dr Natalie's office tomorrow and set up a teleconference so we can discuss what's going on with me. In the meantime I've been sending recordings mostly NSR to Kim. I've also been trying to give some clues to what I'm experiencing and when.]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Mon, 07 Sep 2020 19:18:48 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,176609#msg-176609 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,176609#msg-176609 MissSunshine AFIBBERS FORUM Mon, 17 Aug 2020 15:26:39 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,176606#msg-176606 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,176606#msg-176606
I had a couple days when my heart decided it wanted to go out of rhythm. I had just come off a stretch of 14 night shifts and was working outside building a block wall. PIP easily converted but Natale's office wanted me to go back on the Flecanide until we could speak.

We had a tele-conference about a week later so he could get a feel for what was going on with me and could not pinpoint anything out of the ordinary besides the 14 night shifts. They had me stop the Flecanide a week later to see if I would stay in rhythm. This was also good as I was getting ready to start vacation at that time and would have around 21 days off and also be working daylight after returning. So almost a month of normal sleep patterns.

During that time I had zero rhythm issues and only a handful of noticeable eptopics.

On Aug 5th, On my last stretch of 7 night shifts. My heart went out of rhythm just before shift turnover. It lasted just long enough for me to get a recording before converting back naturally. Then on Friday (7th) morning I woke up to what I believe was a short run of eptopics. I felt fine the rest of the day an did a 15 mile bike ride that afternoon since I had kind of shy'ed away from the bike since mid June and had a larger ride planned with a friend of mine for Saturday. Everything was fine so I met my friend on Saturday for a 47 mile ride. I also did and another 15 miler on Monday and had zero issues.

So since Aug 5th I have had no issues and zero night shifts.:S]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Mon, 17 Aug 2020 14:20:38 +0000 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,175799#msg-175799 https://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,163608,175799#msg-175799 He did point out my uncanny propensity to have issues at certain times of the year. The only two things he really asked were that since I work night shift a lot if I was drinking coffee. Which I don't. I haven't purposefully had any kind of caffeine for well over 20 years.
The other question he asked was if I'd put on any weight. And to that I haven't. I am slightly heavier than I normally am but I haven't put on any weight in the past two years
The current plan is for me to stop the flecainide in a few days. I'm currently taking 50 mg twice a day. And see what happens]]> rocketritch AFIBBERS FORUM Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:41:13 +0000