Hi Smackman,
Good to here you heard from Barbara , I felt sure the referral thing wouldn't be a problem.
McHale got very lucky in getting his ablation the very same day as his first consult with Dr Natale because it was the very first week Dr N was working out of St Luke's in NYC back last May and McHale was smart and jumped quickly on an early tip that Dr N was going to be doing some ablations in NYC and he had, as yet at that early date not built up his schedule there, so it was perfect timing for McHale.
About the only way its likely to happen the same day as your consult, or perhaps the next day, is if you had already scheduled an ablation to coincide with your first consult from the beginning during this visit to begin with. Either that or if he truly had a cancellation at the last minute in the day if or day after you are having your consult and they don't have time to fill the vacancy with someone else more senior on their long waiting list and get them to Austin in time. Under the scenario you might could get lucky but that is pretty unlikely. Most people who cancel out do so at least a couple weeks before their scheduled ablation, or at least should as a courtesy to everyone involved, unless they have a true emergency that prevents them from going through with it or notifying Natale's office earlier.
The reason you got a reality quick consult in Austin is because a month ago, after Mt Sinai Med Center in New York City took over St Luke's Med Center where he had just accepted the Directorship of the Al Sabah Arrhythmia Institute there in addition to his home base center in Austin where he spends two weeks per month and at CPMC in San Francisco where he spends one week a month, after this sudden take over of St Lukes, which houses Al Sabah AFIB center, by Mt Sinai the major changes imposed made it impossible to continue there and so after resigning that position in NYC he sudden has a bit more free time in Austin over the next three months from dates now free that had been scheduled for ablations.
He is hoping to have a new center and hospital arrangements back in NYC sometime in the first part of this coming year, but in the meantime and until that is all set up for sure, its a little quicker to get in to see him in Austin now than is the usual norm.
As such, you might ask Barbara how soon an ablation could be scheduled since its clear you both want and need one. Perhaps you can arrange to kill two birds with one stone in the same time frame?
And no worries, you have made the best possible decision you could have made anywhere for the one paramount decision that you are responsible for, so relax in the knowing that you did very well indeed in your most important step in thus whole process. It's not possible to choose anyone more qualified to safely guide you through your ablation process than the man you are are not set up to see. You can let go of the worry and anxiety over making that decision with that knowledge that you could not have chosen more wisely upfront. Especially for your type of AFIB.
Shannon
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2013 01:50AM by Shannon.
