5-month follow-up after ablation with Dr. Steven Hao, CPMC

Hello, all --

I had my 5-month follow-up appointment with Dr. Hao recently.

I had had an ablation on June 27. The procedure was uneventful. Dr. Hao isolated my pulmonary veins and did a "little work on the back wall" of the left atrium.

Cardio-wise, I recovered well from the procedure. (However, it took me months to recover from pre-existing hyponatremia -- caused, I believe, by excessive urination during increasingly frequent bouts of afib -- and my gut bacteria being wiped out by some completely unnecessary antibiotics for a non-existent bladder infection. Consequently, I'm looking for a new PCP.)

Over the months, I had a few cardio thumps, palpitations, and trills of perhaps 5 seconds. These became less frequent as time went on. For the last month or two, I've had no recognizable symptoms, maybe a few blips now and then.

(Dr. Hao's nurse told me a little heart noise might be my "new normal" now.)

For 4 of the 5 months, I had an event monitor and sampled my heart rate a few times a week. Before my follow-up, I wore a Holter monitor 24 hours a day for a week.

According to Dr. Hao at my recent appointment, all my heart rhythm traces over 5 months were NSR. Tests show no signs of blood clots or heart disease. There was no fibrosis. The size of my left atrium was and is normal.

In answer to the question any of us would ask, he said he thought my problems with atrial fibrillation were behind me. In short, as near as he can tell, I'm one and done.

He said according to the long-term statistics they've managed to gather, the recurrence rate for his patients is about 5% total over 5 years. If I make it to a year with no recurrence -- and all indications are that this will be so -- it's highly likely I won't have to deal with this again for a long, long time.

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Lone paroxysmal vagal atrial fibrillation. Age 62, female, no risk factors. Autonomic instability since severe Paxil withdrawal in 2004, including extreme sensitivity to neuro-active drugs, supplements, foods. Monthly tachycardia started 1/11, happened only at night, during sleep, or when waking, bouts of 5-15 hours. Changed to afib about a year ago, same pattern. Frequency increased over last 6 months, apparently with sensitivity to more triggers. Ablation 6/27/13 by Steven Hao.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2013 04:07PM by Iatrogenia.

Great news Iatrogenia,

It pays to stick with those already very talented EPs, like Dr Hao, who were trained by the very best in Dr Natale, in how best to perform these complex procedures! Natale only recruits what he feels are the most promising up and coming EPs to mentor and you made a good choice.

Best wishes on continued NSR and gradually realizing this is behind you.

Shannon

Yes, congratulations! I hope I can follow in your footsteps, or should I say heartbeats.

Wonderful news, Iatrogenia! I hope you enjoy beginning to think about AF being behind you. For me it has taken a while to begin to entertain this possibility (ablation with Dr. Natale in August of this year), but it has also been a source of great pleasure to consider, especially after 19 years of dealing with AF.

All the best,

Rob

Congratulations, Iatrogenia!! What wonderful news! It is so nice to hear success stories like yours. I have a consult with Dr. Richard Hongo on Jan 31 (also at CPMC) and am looking forward to finally being rid of my afib, SVTs, and now VT.

Nancy M

Congrats, I'm approaching 6 months after my Pr. Jais / Bordeaux ablation and all is good - but, I am being very careful with my Potassium levels, magnessium supplements along with the rest of the supplements. Success doesn't mean we should be taking our eye off of the beast!
Ron

Thanks, everyone.

Forgot to mention, Dr. Hao took me off Xarelto and told me to take a 325mg aspirin daily. (My CHADS2 score is 1 -- because I'm female. No other risk factors.)

No problems going off Xarelto, except I became unusually constipated. Maybe it has an effect on the bowels?

Consequently, I've been able to take more magnesium! I've always been a big fan of magnesium and fish oil. I'm eating more veggies for the potassium. Taking a bit of taurine a.m. and p.m.

Windstar, I think you'll like the people at CPMC. The organization works pretty smoothly.

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Lone paroxysmal vagal atrial fibrillation. Age 62, female, no risk factors. Autonomic instability since severe Paxil withdrawal in 2004, including extreme sensitivity to neuro-active drugs, supplements, foods. Monthly tachycardia started 1/11, happened only at night, during sleep, or when waking, bouts of 5-15 hours. Changed to afib about a year ago, same pattern. Frequency increased over last 6 months, apparently with sensitivity to more triggers. Ablation 6/27/13 by Steven Hao.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2013 04:37PM by Iatrogenia.

Congrats Latrogenia, don't it feel good we got this done!!!!
I'll be at 6 months post-op with Dr Natale this week, just finished 8 days with a LifeWatch 24/7 monitor and from what I can tell no afib according to the Techs. Makes a big difference I believe in who does the ablation.

NSR is so calming to the soul!

McHale

Windstar I second Iatrogenia's recommendation for the CPMC folks,

I have been seeing Dr Natale there regularly for the last six years with just under three dozen office visits there over the years, as well as two TEE's, three Transthoracic Echos and an LAA isolation ablation and it has always been first class and smooth sailing.

Also, I have the same high marks for Dr Natale's Austin operation as well, having had 5 office appointments there plus my big first ablation in Aug 2008 shortly after Natale took over there after leaving Cleveland Clinic, as well as a total of three TEEs now and two Trans-thoracic Echos, and the Lariat procedure, and between the first ablatiion and Lariat a total of seven days spent in the hospital at St Davids .. and the whole experience there has also been one of first class care and results!

It simply pays to go to the best, even if you have to go out of your way a bit to make it happen. You will do fine at CPMC.

Holiday Cheers!
Shannon

Thanks, everyone, and an absence of blips and bloops to all!

______________
Lone paroxysmal vagal atrial fibrillation. Age 62, female, no risk factors. Autonomic instability since severe Paxil withdrawal in 2004, including extreme sensitivity to neuro-active drugs, supplements, foods. Monthly tachycardia started 1/11, happened only at night, during sleep, or when waking, bouts of 5-15 hours. Changed to afib about a year ago, same pattern. Frequency increased over last 6 months, apparently with sensitivity to more triggers. Ablation 6/27/13 by Steven Hao.