After 9 years of waiting for the techniques to improve, I finally made the decision to have the Ablation done. I went in Monday, had the MRI, TEE and EKG done, and was on the table on Tuesday mornng at 8:30am.

4 1/2 hours later, and after 100 plus burns, I was out and back in my room by 3pm or so. Dr. said they identifed one of the Pulmonary veins as the site of the problem although they did do all 4 veins.

After hearing horror stories about how bad the 6 hours laying flat was I have to say it was a piece of cake. I was up and walking around by 10pm.

Restarted the Tikosyn and was released at 2pm This afternoon.

HR 50 bpm, BP 101/55

Worse part was the agonizing over the decision. Well maybe the TEE was no picnic, but no pain.

Had twilight sedation while they inserted the Catheters, felt a little pressure but nothing more than what you feel when they draw blood.

Out for the Procedure, no recollection of it at all.

Fingers crossed. Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Tom

Congratulations Tom,

I'm glad it's over and you are doing well.

Debbie

Sounds like things went very well Tom - fantastic! Here's hoping the next 3 months go smoothly and you can settle into a permanent state of NSR!

Best of Luck!

John F.

Congratulations Tom - may you have many years of blessed peace and NSR. It must feel wonderful to have made the decison and now be on the healing end of this. Good luck!

Be well ~ Barb

btw - where did you have it done? ~ Barb

Well done Tom. Keep us posted.

Regards,

Mike

John, Thanks for your earlier counsel. It helped alot. I'll give you a call.

I had the procedure done at Univ. of Pennsylvania by Dr. Marchlinski. Waited 18 months for the slot from the first visit with him.

Nursing staff at HUP was awesome. Professional, gentle, and very friendly. I felt like I was letting them down when I didn't need anything.

Having visited site and talking with a few of you who had the procedure done, prepared me well for the experience.

No real surprises other than the 6 hour still period being a non issue. I was dreading it based on almost everyones comments, but I must have had great company and a comfy bed because the time flew. The nursing staff flipped or changed my head pillow a few times which felt cooler and more comfortable.

It's just amazing to me that they can snake a catheter up from your groin, into the heart, burn a bunch of tissue, play around in there for 4+ hours and you can be home 2 days later.

Thanks again for sharing your personal experinces here. Resources like this are extremely helpful in making the decision and becoming an informed patient. It really helps to understand what to expect, and to be able to participate in your treatment.

Tom

Thanks for posting, Tom. Good to know it wasn't an ordeal for you. Be kind to your heart during your recovery period. Keep us posted.
Best to you, Jackie

Tom,
Awesome...Thank you letting us know about your procedure. Best of luck...

Tom--glad to hear you did well. Be sure to baby your heart. NSR for you!

Louise

Ok ,so what is recommended as to "babying my heart"?

Instructions on leaving the hospital were, No lifting and No heavy exercise for a week. That was it.

The Doctor said that walking was fine, driving is fine. No other comments or restrictions.

I plan to take it easy this weekend, and then do some light walking at the gym starting Monday. I thought I would resume normal workouts the following week.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

I had been working out for the past 3 years, five days a week for an hour + each day, on the Rower, Eliptical, and Weights.

Heart rate right now is a nice steady 50 bpm. It will be interesting to see how it responds to some exercise.

I was one of those rare types that vigorous exercise would put me back into NSR when I was in AFIB. Apparently that's not real common. When in AFIB, I would exercise hard to get my HR up to around 180-190 and then it would drop back into NSR at around 80 bpm and no matter how long or hard I worked out it wouldn't go above 80 bpm. I'm on 50 mg toporal 2x a day, so I'm sure that was a factor too.

Tom

Tom, Congratulations on your successful ablation. What to do now? I think you should take a rest from the heavy exercise and try too keep the inflammation to your heart after ablation down in order to speed the healing process. Have you read Hans report on post ablation care? It can be found with the rest of the afib resources by clicking the blue bar above, top right or [www.afibbers.org]

Cheers

Adrian

Tom, so glad to hear that things went smoothly for you. Don't go crazy with the exercise just because you're feeling great. Remember, you've had some burns to your heart. If you'd burned your elbow you'd be taking things slowly to let it heal ;-)

Laura

Thanks, for the tips. Yes, my potassium levels had dropped and they did give me several doses of potassium in the hospital. My level was 3.8 when I left on Thursday.

I will take the advice on the exercise and let things heal for a few weeks. Thanks again.

Tom

Have you had all the horrible irregularities you read about on blogs after the procedure? I am waiting to be scheduled for mine and have been up five days in hell. I can't eat, sleep and have thoughts of ending it all. So happy so far you are fine. Thank God. Carol

Was this done for Atrial Fibrillation?

Carol - I know that feeling. And then when you get back to NSR the blues and angst go away. After 9 years I am finally signed up for an ablation next month because I ran out of tricks to try and ran out of good cheer, like you. So the potential benefits now outweigh the risks. Having made that decision, I am at peace with it and just don't feel so horrible now when I do have a fib, which is too often, and too many days in a row nonstop these days. Email me privately if you want to talk. We shall overcome. Phyllis

Carol, I was very anxious about the procedure. I got a call on Wednesday feb 2nd telling me they had a cancellation and asked if I was available for the ablation on the 8th. (I had not yet been given a date for my ablation at that point, but expected it to be in late March, early April.

I can tell you that my blood pressure was definately up due to the angst.

Yes it was for AFIB. As for the "horrible irregularities," No nothing other than NSR. It's now 6 straight days of NSR and I feel Great. Went out to dinner with my wife last night for Valentines. I drove to get my INR levels checked this morning. I felt great from the minute I woke up from the procedure.

Like I said, the 6 hours laying still was a piece of cake. I would say the worst things were the Lidocane spray prior to the tee, well more like the checking for the gag reflex. The actual TEE I was out for.

No issue with the Catheter removal, the foley removal etc. I had a slight cough for 2 days but nothing too intrusive.

I did have a slight discomfort in trying to take a very deep breath, but a couple doses of Motrin that they gave me took care of that by Wednesday night.

I am not making light of the proceedure. There are very real major risks. I did not make the decision to proceed lightly. And my wife and daughters really did not want me to do it. But so far it's been a very uneventful process. Hopefully it will continue to work.

Tom



Post Edited (02-14-11 15:08)

Tom,

I was ablated 4 years ago and was/still am big into exercise. I felt great the day after my ablation and have been in NSR ever since. My Dr. said to lay off strenuous exercise for one month but walking and very light exercise would be ok. After the one month, I started back with no restrictions. What I found was that I reached my anaerobic threshold much faster than before the ablation (heart still healing) and that it took about one year to get back to normal.

I was on Toprol for 6 years before the ablation so my resting heart rate was usually in the 50's and sometimes lower. After the ablation I went off the toprol for good and my RHR went up into the 70's. After a year, it settled back into the 60's which is where it is now. I am 65 and and very active. Weights, jogging, walking golf & a lot of windsurfing on a regular basis. I am doing something 3-4 days a week at a minimum.

Thanks Ken.

Based on the comments here, I've come to the conclusion that there is no reason for me to go at it hard for a while. I was used to doing it as the vigorous exercise did put me back into NSR.

One week ago today I was on the table having the ablation done at this time.

I've been in NSR for 7 straight days now and it feels amazingly good. WooHOO!!!

I plan on starting with light walking next week and will hold off the more vigorous exercise for a month or two. My real goal is to be off the Coumadin. The Tikosyn never bothered me so that's not an issue for me either way.

I'm 55 and have been very active even with the AFIB. My Doctor was not real keen on my Skiing and Driving on the race track. So If I can get off the coumadin, I can get him off my back on that issue. I lost 55 pounds last year and got the total cholesterol levels down to 124. So getting rid of the AFIB will be another goal accomplished.

Life is good.

Tom

Tom,

I don't know how long your Dr. wants you to stay on Coumadin, but I was on it for a month after the ablation, then nothing from that point on.

I used Plavix for the 6 years while I was on meds for the very reason you state. My activities/lifestyle and Coumadin didn't mix (risk of bleeding too great). Snow skiing is also one of my things too.

When I had afib, it didn't impact my lifestyle very much. I would have about 3 episodes a month, lasting usually a few to several hours, but it was tolerable.
The main reason I went for an ablation was that I was into group European cross country hiking trips and I didn't want to be hit with afib in the middle of a hike. I had been putting off a trip to the Dolomites for some time for this reason. Seven months after the ablation, my wife and I were hiking in Italy.

Hopefully, you will be back to your "regular" routine soon. Build into your workouts gradually, no reason to rush things too fast.

Good to hear of your relatively "easy' and successful procedure, Tom. It seems that Dr. Marchlinski is another good one that others have commented on before as well. You must feel wonderful to be in NSR all the time now! Congratualtions!

I have been considering this option more and more lately...although still not quite there. I was/have been a daily afibber - did you get afib often before your ablation? I wonder if those of us who get afib alot are less likely to get such a good result with an ablation...

Best to you ~ Barb

Barb, My AFIB started out split 50-50. I would be in NSR,for 3 days then go into AFIB for 3 days straight. That pattern held for about 6 years. I was on Tikosyn, Toporol and Coumadin.

I kept a daily log of the time in NSR and the time in AFIB for about 8 years. It was steady until about 2 years ago and then it was more like 35%-65% NSR to AFIB and my EP suggested that I didn't want it to get much worse if I wanted to consider the ablation.

I tolerated the in and out of rhythm pretty well, and I didn't let it affect my activitiy level. However, I certainly felt much better when in NSR.

I studied the research and didn't see any significant major leaps in the technology or the procedure in the near future and Dr. Marchlinski confirmed that most improvements now were small steps, not leaps.

Dr Marchlinski was not my EP. My Regular EP was great in discussing the options, very frank about the risks and very supportive of my desire to get the best to do my procedure when the time came.

Like I said earlier, Dr. Marchlinski has an 18 month waiting period for him to do the procedure, so I made an appointment in Sept. of 09. and saw him again in Sept 2010, and expected the procedure to be done in March of 11.

Luckily my AFiB was still Parasysmal.

I will say again that it was not an easy decision to make. I tolerated the AFIB well. My Dad has had AFIB for over 35 years now, he's 82. And I recently learned that his Dad had AFIB too, He died at age 96, so I know you can live with it. It really comes down to the quality of life aspect.

It's been 9 days straignt in NSR since my Ablation on Feb. 8th. I feel great.

As almost everyone here says, once you make the decision, get the best doctor you can to do the procedure. Experience does matter.

Thanks again for all your support.

Tom



Post Edited (02-17-11 06:20)