Heading down to Austin for Ablation #2

Hi All - just wanted to check in and let you know that I'm heading down to Austin, Texas to get my 'touch up" ablation by Dr. Natale this Friday. My sister is flying down with me tomorrow, so we can try to fit in 2 days of being "tourists" and seeing what there is to see and do, before my procedure. I am currently in Flutter and hoping that Dr. Natale will take care of this and any other potential Afib related issues once and for all. So I'm nervous, but I also know it's what needs to be done and am trying to reassure myself that all will be fine.

I will report back once I am back "on my feet" and can get my IPad to do that.

Hoping you all have a uneventful week and that things are moving in the right direction for you too!

For now ~ Barb

Good luck Barb! Hope it works out as well for you as it did for me. Say hello to Dr Natale from his NY fans. Dennis

Hi Barb,
Good luck with your procedure.

Didn't you just had an ablation not long ago?

Duke

Hi Barb,

This well be a piece of cake so no worries, A true touch up with a targeted area, likely around the LAA which not uncommonly can require one touch up to lock things down for the long term after it has been isolated in a prior ablation as in your case.

And Duke, Barb's first ablation was last August and she had a significant case from many years of AFIB and required LAA isolation. About 35% to 40% of LAA isolations will require a single touch up procedure, typically within the first year after the index procedure and this touch up is almost invariably much easier all around than a first ablation for persistent or long standing and more complex paroxysmal AFIB.

Dr N will first do a thorough check of all areas he ablated last August to make sure they are all buttoned down, which they almost certainly will be already, and then will track down the offending flutter leak and zap that in what I anticipate will be a very straight forward procedure for Barb.

Its much easier pyschologically the second time too and the recovery is even faster too with generally substantially less burns required in a true touch up situation like this.

Barbs case was always a high odds for needing a follow up though I was hoping she might be one and done, she has done very well with it all and really had no real issues at all until the flutter breakthrough a going on a bit less than two months ago. Will be thinking of you Barb, all will be well.

Cheers!
Shannon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2014 11:08AM by Shannon.

Barb - hope you have a quick recovery and this ends the challenges of afib for you.

Doreen

Barb,
No fears as we all know Natale is the man. Enjoy your time in Texas, Dennis tells me its a great town minus all the chaos of New York City. Send him my greetings.

Best to you,

McHale

Praying for this touch up to silence the beast. You are in the hands of one of the best EP's in the world. Gods speed and good luck.

Good luck Barb! May the 2nd one be the charm for you.

Jim

Thanks everyone! ( not sure why this print is so small)... My sister, Phyllis and I got down here a few hours ago. Plenty warm enough, that's for sure. We plan to do some sightseeing tomorrow, and Thursday afternoon, if we can figure out where we're going here! Pre-op is Thursday morning, and then it's round 2 on Friday morning at 10:30. I am hoping this will seem like a blip on the radar, and that will be the last I need to be in blissful NSR indefinitely.

The number 1 question she and I kept getting asked was, "Aren't there any good doctors there in NY? Why do you have to go so far?" I find that most people don't understand how important it is to go to the best Dr you can find with Afib, as it does make a difference. But I sure wish he would hurry up and come back to NY soon, as my other sister has been getting a lot of palpitations and things now too, and I know she would never travel this far..

I will check back here as soon as I can afterwards. Thanks so much for your good wishes. ~ Barb

Barb, Best wishes for a procedure well done.

H Barb,

I haven't been hanging around the forum too much lately because of time constraints, so just saw your post. Enjoy Austin! I lived there many yeas ago and I know it's changed tremendously, but it is a great city. If you have a car try to drive out to lake country -- it's the most beautiful part of Texas!

I know your ablation will be easy-peasy! I'm just starting out with my first consultation with Dr. N at Scripps in July. I also have had long-standing afib, so our stories may be similar and I will be calling on you for advice!

Take care, Louise

Hi Barb,

We probably won't cross paths, but I will be having a second ablation in Austin (first with Dr. Natale) also on Friday. Mine is scheduled for 1:30. but since I know he will take every minute he needs to take good care of you, I will be very patient if he runs late for mine!

All good wishes for both our full and speedy recoveries!

Charlotte

Barbs touch up ablation went very well as expected and hopefully this one night in the hospital is not too restless with the nurse coming in and out and the machines beeping and such.

I had written a new thread about her procedure earlier and no realize I must have accidently erased it when I was make a few typo edits !

In any event , this smaller version I felt best to put in this main thread she started about her then upcoming ablation.

The actual ablation time was just shy of 29minutes and Dr Natale only needed to address two small areas. The first spot was a new source only the lower posterior wall and the final spot which once ablated terminated the flutter she has been in the last 6 weeks or so and was located in the anterior left atrial wall just below her left atrial appendage.

Dr Natale was pleased with what appears to be yet another textbook procedure and with the limited burns required Equally less than half the burn time of her first ablation, she should have a speedy recovery as well. Hopefully she had seen the last of the EPLab for ablation work now.

Good news Barb, take it easy and here's to decades more of NSR!

Shannon

Hello all - I got out of the hospital yesterday and have to say that was by far the nicest hospital experience I've ever had. Everyone was terrific, I got a good night sleep, and the staff was very attentive and professional. Apparently my procedure was fairly quick and uneventful. Dr. Natale said there was an area near my esophagus that needed to be ablated, as well as 2-3 other areas, I believe. I am feeling pretty good right now, and am hoping this will be the end of my Afib concerns. Of course, it will take some discipline not to worry about it coming back, now that I had to go back for a "touch up" already. I would imagine that some passage of time will help push those thoughts to the back of my mind.

We have been staying at a hotel about 10 minutes away from St. David's medical center, and have met two other people also getting ablation a this weekend. One was an older woman who had Afib for years and years (we just met her husband as she was still in the hospital), and the other was a 52 year old guy who only had Afib fir less than a year. He's into athletics and felt he couldn't do what he wanted to do anymore, so he had a basic PVI ablation. I told him about our site and the frequency of Afib with those heavy into exercise. Hopefully he will be a little more careful with going to extremes.
Also interesting to note that one of the nurses told me that cardiologists who have Afib travel here to primarily see Dr. Natale all the time - as well as dignitaries from other countries, and so many more. One nurse said that Dr. Natale "wrote the book on this stuff". So his outstanding reputation is clearly well known around the world. I am so
thankful that I learned of him through this Board, and shudder to think what this journey could have been like otherwise.

One more day in Austin, and then its time to get back to my life! Thanks for all of your good wishes. May you ALL soon be, or remain, in blissful NSR. ~ Barb

Hi Barb,

Great news! I'm glad your experience was positive and your future looks outstanding! I totally agree with your assessments. St Davids was unbelievable. Great facility and staff., One of the things I remember in recovery was one of the nurses telliing me that royalty from Saudi Arbia had recently been treated by Dr Natale. They also told people from around the world come to Austin to see Dr Natale!

I have a little bit of a funny story about Dr Natale's notoriety. While in the hospital in Las Vegas a few days after my ablation I was seen by a cardiologist on call to the hospital. He was very sceptical about the ablation process and treatment. He never heard of Dr Natale. He couldn't even understand why I would be given lasix. I tried my best to explain to the doc about irrigated catheters but I wasn't getting too far. So he calls one of his buddies who is an EP. I just hear half the conversation. A lot of " huh huh's." " Oh's." "I see's " and " Really"! He gets off the phone and says, " So, this doctor Natale is one of those famous doctors" . I about busted a gut laughing! He changed his tune a little after that. I think his buddy set him straight!

Best wishes to you for a quick and complete recovery!

Craig

Good news Barb! Hope this one is a keeper. I just went over 2 years NSR since my ablation, but it was a pretty simple one. I caught mine early and was able to get by with a straight forward PVI. Hopefully this touch-up will be your last and you will finally be able to put AFIB behind you.

Jim

Best wishes for you, Barb. Hope things look up from here. Best wishes to Charlotte, too, who had her ablation same day.
Betty

So glad to hear it was easy, Barb -- and I hope you enjoyed Austin!

Best, Louise

Back home now, only to find my daughter sick with the flu..ahh! At least I made it home in time to help take care of her.

I hope your ablation was uneventful and successful too, Charlotte! How long ago did you have your first ablation? Mine was in Sept. I would imagine you are either home or on your way home now too. All the best to you

One thing I would recommend to any "newer" Afibbers is...don't wait real long, like I did. I may very well have avoided the need for a LAA islolation, and likely, life long blood thinners too. I kidded myself into thinking I could manage Afib myself - with brisk walks and later, Flecainide...but realized after 10 years that the time had come to give in and do what I should've done a few years earlier, at least. The good side of waiting is that ablation procedures kept gettting more and more effective over time, as they likely will continue to be.

We did enjoy Austin, btw...many great places to eat, lovely parks to visit, and the people were incredibly gracious and friendly almost everywhere we went. Nonetheless, like Dorothy, I can say," there's no place like HOME"!

Best to you all ~ Barb