13 years of nsr since ablation in Bordeaux

Many of you know my story, but I tell it again on my anniversary for people who are still struggling with the beast.

After many years of paroxysmal AF and 18 months of persistent AF I had my ablation on January 7th 2003, followed by a touch up 3 days later because AF.recurred.

In those distant days my EP in London told me that ablation was experimental and dangerous and had only a 30% chance of success (not true!) but my AF was highly symptomatic and totally disabling so I went to the best available EP, Professor Haïssaguerre in Bordeaux.

Since then I have, as far as I know, been in sinus rhythm. When I ask about the long term I am told "You ARE the long term".

I had one episode which I thought might be AF after having a bad reaction to the drug Tramadol, and went to the ER for an ECG. The docs there, not EPs, said it was, but a few days later my regular EP said it wasn't - it was runs of ectopics. I do get a lot of them at times - almost 9000 once on a 24 hour Holter, but taking magnesium, potassium and taurine dampens them down so I hardly notice them. Prof. Haissaguerre says they are a nuisance but not a problem so I ignore them and get on with my life.

Gill (pronounced 'Jill' and female!)

Gill,

I am so happy to hear this!

I wish you many, many more years in blissful nsr.

John

Gill,

Great to see your posts continue after all these years!!

Continued NSR to you!

Cheers,

George

Gill,

Great to hear you are still doing well and it's wonderful that you are still providing support to those that are struggling.

Monty

Gill,

So glad your ablation continues to keep you in NSR. You give hope for the long-term for all of us who have undergone ablation.

Doreen

I never get tired of offering you Congratulations, Gill. Yours is a truly wonderful success story and I'm so pleased for you.

Best wishes,

Jackie

Perhaps I should add that after the second ablation Prof. Haissaguerre said that he thought one of the lines might have had a gap in it - he said it was like trying to build a dam with round stones without leaving a gap that the water could leak through.

But this was not the case. There was a very toxic focus in the coronary sinus which he said was extremely difficult to find and ablate. I remember hearing him say "Did you see that?" and the people sitting at the screens saying "No". Then one of them said "Yes, I see it".

I think this demonstrates the importance of going to the most skilled and experienced EP you can find. I am sure that a less expert EP would not have found it and my ablation would have failed.

Gill

Good going Gill. You're an inspiration. I get ectopics too so I appreciated your reminder that we can ignore them. That's what I've been doing.

Nick

Congratulations Gill, it's so great to hear of your continued success. May you reign at the top of long term for many more years.
I am so thankful for the bordeaux team that did my ablation four years ago. Dr Hocini also struggled with a particular toxic focus during my ablation and I'm so glad she persisted until it was finally terminated.

Cheers

adrian

This is a reply to a post by Monty that seems to have disappeared.

Monty

I remember that fear very well - but it wears off after a while, I promise you!

When I went to Bordeaux I had not found this board and though I had done lots of research I didn't know nearly as much about ablations as I do now. I didn't know that a second one is often needed, or was even possible, so when AF recurred after three days I was in despair, especially since Prof. Haissaguerre had told me that he had done everything it was possible to do.

In fact, what he meant was that he had put in all the lines that were known to work at that time, and a few hours later I was back in the lab having the second one.

One EP in London told me that the ablation lines might not stop AF from happening but should certainly prevent it from sustaining itself. I found this very comforting - if I DID get a short spell of AF I would just wait for the lines to do their job and stop it.

Gill



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2016 06:10AM by Gill.