I had an appointment to attend to have the Catheter Ablation Procedure on Friday, as stated on letter, I arrived promptly at 11am. Signed consents and waited, waited and waited a bit more - to be told (at 4:30pm) that a machine had broken down in one of the cath labs so three of us have to be cancelled!!! at 4:30!!! five and a half hours later!! I know I can't be mad as it was unavoidable but I geared myself up and was absolutely dreading it - Friday was a long day! So I'm back there in two weeks - fingers crossed all goes to plan!! Has anyone else had the ablation and has it been successful??
Thanks
Mrs Law
Written by
Sparkleshimmer
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How very disappointing (and indeed annoying) after all the build up and anticipation and trepidation we all go through beforehand. What bad luck. Yes, I've had three ablations with a fair measure of success. I've no regrets and am just so pleased that the procedure is available to us - unless it gets cancelled. But all should go better next time.
Tough luck. I had to wait 7 hours for a bed at my last ablation. Only just got to lie down then we were off. Must have been short of beds in the brand new, massive QE in Birmingham!!!
I had an ablation in 2005 and it worked brilliantly. No Af or drugs, except anti-coagulants, for 8+ years. Got a bit back now but being controlled by drugs quite easily.
The one I had to wait for was a 2nd one but they had to abort for other reason peculiar to me. Both were a doddle. I was worried with the first, obviously, but completely nonchalant about the second. First was under sedation, the other GA.
It is possible that, in addition, for the patients that did have their ablation, that the EPs thought that they would be finished quicker than they ended up taking and so that reduced the availability. Unfortunately it is a specialist procedure and they won't start someone unless they know that they can complete safely and in a reasonable time. My EP was there at no later than 08:00 (probably soon after 07:00) in the morning and although I was second on the list (of 2) I was not finished until 18:00 so going on later for a third patient was not a realistic option!!! Mine took 6+1/2 hours.
That's really tough, so demoralising. It won't happen next time I'm sure. My first procedure not successful and I'm sure you have been informed of the success statistics. Second 'top up' was last June and so far all is ok. Both procedures were uneventful and I had no pain or side effects. Not much to worry about. Just lets hope it works!
Just had my first ablation and 4 weeks in, seems unbelievable its made such a difference, although I do recognize its early days. All I can say is its certainly bad luck from a patient point of view, but just think of it as similar to a plane trip if you can, before a safety check, although its disappointing I would rather not proceed until all safety precautions had been dealt with, in that case it would be good luck that the staff are so diligent, count your blessings and go ahead when its all fixed up.
Yes! July 7th(my Birthday) ! Great present! Successful on the day, and no trouble since! I had no discomfort at all from the time I awoke until now! I go for my first check up on Tuesday so hope to come off my blood thinner and beta blocker then . Good luck, sorry you had a false start but don't worry- it really is like nothing has happened to you!! 🙂❤️
I know how you feel the same thing happened to me back in August.
As far as successful ablations is concerned, the evidence is that the majority are successful and Bob's sound theory is that most of the successful patients don't hang around our forum for long afterwards.
Ablation in July 15 and haven't looked back. Took about two hours and has been successful. Off all drugs except Apixaban for life. Hang on and good luck!
There are loads that I can think of who were on the forum over the last two tears but rarely, if ever, visit. Just search for recent post by Japaholic .
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