First, I'd like to thank everyone that offered advice in the last 6 months to help me try to find a fix for my AFIB. Looks like I have a hard case that can't be solved by one of the tightrope solutions.
The final straws in letting go and getting the ablation were the realizations that my heart had probably been acting up unknown to me for more than a decade (I used to observe the same heart rate spikes with a Polar HRM as early as 12 years ago) the same spikes that I've seen progressively increase over time after my 2 ECVs.
As well, recalling that my father had a maze procedure somewhere near age 60 which might indicate that he had the same issues about the some time they started for me.
Last point was a discussion with Shannon and my own sense that even if I could get this sorted out and delayed for a few years, it's also possible my EP of choice may be retired by then.
AF has been very disruptive to my life, first a nuisance, and over time, a ball and chain. Now's the time.
Last week I had an echo ~ 60 ejection (while in AF) and today I had a stress test (also in AF) - cardi said everything looked great, lastly I have a CAC score that's regressing or at the least stabilized. I'm 57, if all goes well, I'll have a strong NSR heart and a less than 100 CAC score before I turn 65.
Now the damn problem is, with the FED destroying the $, I may outlive my retirement and savings.
It never gets easy...
Thanks all.