Hybrid ablation part 2

[johnMiosh]

I am part of a clinical trial to judge the outcomes of a mini maze procedure followed by a catheter ablation compared to two catheter ablations. I had been in persistent AF since Feb 2016, give or take a few weeks after cardioversion.

I had the mini maze on April 6th. Since then I have been predominantly in NSR. I had a few days of AF within the first couple of weeks and since then i have had just 24 hours of AF in May after a particularly stressful workday. A few weeks ago I had a run of what I think were PVCs (I caught them on the Kardia app and gave the print offs to the research nurse when i went in for an ECG; nothing on the ECG as it had all calmed down by then. I have not yet received any feedback on the printouts. This happened the day before a return to work from annual leave holiday, but at 8 a.m. on the first day back, I was scheduled for a wisdom tooth removal, so perhaps this was another stress issue.

My second ablation was originally scheduled for 17th August, but was postponed due to lack of an anaesthetist. it is now definitely on for this Thursday. I will let you know how it goes.

[meadfoot]

Good luck with it John. Hope to hear you have had not only a successful procedure but also an af free life ahead of you. Best wishes, please let us know ongoing how things are.

[robin5]

If you are anything like me, you will not feel as bad as you did after the first part of the procedure. I had my first part done almost two years ago and the second just before Christmas 2015. So far so good. Good luck on Thursday

[johnMiosh in reply to robin5]

Good to hear.

I am expecting a much easier time afterwards, the first one may be called "minimally invasive", but only in comparison with open chest procedures

[MarkySmith]

Great news John. You'll be back (on your bike) for Christmas.

[GarrBo]

This sounds fascinating John. How long have you been in PAF? I've had four catheter ablations and a Papworth-Cox surgical maze which have helped alleviate my AF but I haven't had NSR for over two decades. The Hybrid ablation sounds very promising.

Good luck with your procedure and I'm looking forward to your next post.

[johnMiosh in reply to GarrBo]

Looking back at training records, i had lots of events during exercise in 2015, which generally self converted within minutes. Went into PAF in February 2016, a cardioversion got me back into NSR for two weeks, but then in AF until Ablation in April.

I dont think the mini maze would be any use to you, it results in pretty much the same lesion set you have from the cox maze

[GarrBo in reply to johnMiosh]

Thanks John.

[johnMiosh]

It is now 11:00 a.m. on the day of the procedure. Instead of gently recovering from the Op, I am sat in front of the PC at work. I arrived at the NGH at 6:30, was admitted and blood samples taken before they realised they did not have an anaesthetist available. I was sent home with a vague promise that I would be scheduled for 2 weeks time.

[GarrBo]

Sorry to read that your ablation was cancelled. A similar thing happened to me. I found it very tiring and disappointing to travel to the hospital in the early morning and then have to travel back home the same day. Psychologically difficult too.

[johnMiosh in reply to GarrBo]

There is definitely a psychological side to this. There is an element of being prepared for a traumatic experience (I was not expecting this procedure to be much of a problem, but the first one was difficult). But mainly, I was excited and happy to have the final hurdle in sight before it was suddenly snatched away.

Work is also a problem, I had cleared the next three weeks; two weeks off, then a gentle reintroduction working from home. Work that I would have done has been shared out, some to external contractors who charge up to £750 a day. I am now available to do some of this work, but we can't cancel with only two weeks notice, so still have to pay.

As I have been told that the op could be in the next two weeks, I will have to leave my work contracted for the third week, but will have to considered rearranging more work for up to six weeks in the future, but without a definite date in writing this is difficult to justify.

My boss is very understanding and they have been very good to me over the last 15 months, but I wouldn't be surprised if their patience is wearing a little thin.

[johnMiosh]

Definitely on 5 October