Perhaps I should start by saying that 5 days post -ablation I have had no pain, no bruising and, amazingly, I have not felt my heart once. NOT ONCE. My only problem is an awful chesty cough.
I have had AF for about 6 years. It comes and goes. I had nothing in the month before the ablation but a very bad run of attacks in May and June. My EP suspected that I was fibrillating more than I realised and a 7 day ECG monitor showed one episode of 36 hrs.
The cryo ablation was to be done by Dr Todd at Liverpool. There was a teenager emergency which Dr Todd had to attend so I was allocated to Dr Richard Snowdon. I was assured that they had similar results and that Dr Snowdon was known to be meticulous about details. I liked him immediately. He explained that it would be ordinary ablation, not cryo. WHY? He linked cryo to sedation and I was to have GA.
He explained that there would be 3 entry points in my groin. These turned out to be tiny, not much more than ear lobe piercing. 12 hours later the plaster covering the 3 points had a gauze which was about 1" square.
The ablation took 3 hrs and I had to lie down for 6 hrs, including 1hr in recovery.
Dr Snowdon came to see me. The ablation had gone well. There was a 50 % chance of success but in view of the findings a second ablatio would not be an option. The mapping system had been seen by Dr Todd who was present latterly. My heart had fibrillates during the ablation and they had had to shock it.
In view if my history they were surprised to find an enlarged left atria with scarring. One pulmanory vein was so scarred that it didn't need abating. There were 2 veins from a single source and 2 veins were conjoined so there was a large entry hole instead of 2 small ones. Had it been cryo ablation then the cryo balloon would have been too small to deal with this large hole.
In the circumstances I have been very lucky. Dr Richard Snowdon is an absolute star!!
If this ablation is not successful in the long term then Dr Todd will consider a pacemaker.
I have had a change of medication and anticoagulant and will pos separately about that after I have seen my GP on Tuesday.