I was scheduled for my afib ablation redo on Wednesday April 3rd at 11:30 AM. I was excited for the ablation hoping this would do even better than my first one which I was afib free for about 1.5 years.
I was wheeled into the cath lab on time and briefly spoke to my EP. I was then given the sedative to put me under, no anesthesia.
I woke up 4.5 hours later in the Intensive Care Unit with a drain extending out of my pericardium sac. I had suffered a bad Cardiac Tamponade, causing my blood pressure to drop to 70/20 at the end of the ablation procedure
The EP and his team had frantically worked to get the drain in but had trouble since my heart extends a little higher under my breast bone than others. I was told I almost didn't make it.
I watched all night as the drain from the pericardium filled up and the nurses would empty it. I was told I lost 1 litre of blood during this episode. In the morning I coughed up a big chunk of blood and phlegm. I asked the doctors if this was normal and I was told no. A chest xray was immediately ordered.
It seems in their attempt to install the drain in the pericardial sac, they punctured my lung and it had collapsed. They then installed a tube between my ribs into the lung to remove unwanted air so the lung would inflate but it did not work. I was then wheeled down to the CT scanner lab so they could grid the exact spot to put the tube and another was inserted between my ribs and in the lung again. This time it worked. The tubes remained between my ribs in the lung for 4 days. This was extremely painful and I was administered morphine to help manage the pain but it was very bad.
On Saturday they pulled out the drain from the pericardium and I thought I was having a heart attack. The pain was unbelievable. I was told it was because the pericardium and heart were rubbing against each other and it would take some time to adjust back to normal. More morphine but not fun.
Sunday morning both air tubes were removed from my lungs and chest xrays were done periodically throughout the day to insure the lung remained stable. This morning I was given one last xray and found all was clear and I was released from the hospital at noon.
I am at least thankful they finished the ablation and also through all of the 5 days I remained in NSR. If needed I have another ablation but reluctantly so. The odds are low this would happen but it did to me and I did not die. The complications listed for ablation are low but real and Cardiac Tamponade being the largest contributor to death.
Luckily I had an EP team who reacted quickly to save my life. I'll keep you posted on my progress from time to time.
Best Wishes to All
Written by
perkman
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Reading through your news, how lucky you were that you had an excellent Cardiac Team who saved you. I know it’s very rare, but a friend of ours wife died as a result of a Cardiac Tamponade2 years ago.......At the time , I was not aware of her death & I was due to have procedure for SVT but kept dragging my heels & delaying. I eventually got my courage up and had planned Ablation in 2018, when they discovered that I had PAF not SVT, after re-starting me 4 times, and now am on Rivaroxaban. Cardiac tamponade is something that is rarely mentioned when you weigh the odds, but sadly, it is a risk that exists. I wish you a speedy ongoing recovery from such a frightening experience
I don’t think I breathed when I was reading your post. It sounds like a very frightening and incredibly painful experience. I’m so glad that you are home and can start to recover from it all. It was really good to read at the end that your ablation seems to have worked and your heart behaved well despite the extreme circumstances. I hope it stays that way for a long time to come, you deserve it after all that.
Sorry to hear that you’ve been through such a horrid time. As I said to Debbie who posted yesterday about cardiac taponade, we’re often told there’s a 1 in 1000 risk of something going wrong which is good odds as long as you’re not “the one”.
It’s strange how with something so rare we’ve had 2 posts about this topic on the forum in 24 hours.
Sorry to hear what happened to you, and the pain you suffered during your time in hospital. Most outcomes of ablation are ok, but had I read your post before my procedure might still be on
medication! Wishing you the best and hope this ablation will be a great success.
What a horrible experience, so glad you had such a good team and hope you are now on the road to recovery.
Wishing you continued NSR, I think you have earned it. Take some time to process the emotional experience which will be considerable after being in so much pain, I believe that is also part of the healing process.
A stark reminder that an ablation is not without risk but we are told that although incidents of Cardiac Tamponade are rare, EP’s and their teams are trained and equipped to deal with them effectively as you experienced. It must have been a very scary time for you and it is good that we’re able to tell us about it in such a positive way. Hopefully you will be able to put the experience behind you an focus on making a speedy and successful recovery, best wishes........
I read your account with mounting horror. I am so glad you are through it now, relatively unscathed, physically at least. Now be very kind and easy on yourself. Just sometimes the trauma of what has happened, whilst not apparent at the time, will come back to haunt you (PTSD) so do look out for that. Thank you for posting this account of your experience. I wish you all the very best.
What a dreadful experience you had! After reading the first few sentences I thought you were going to say they had to cancel your ablation for some reason, but as I read on I soon realised that wasn't the case. Phew, you have my sympathy!
How are you feeling today, what medication are you taking and do you still have soreness in your chest?
I thought I had a rough ride after ablation with a Pseudoaneurysm and arteriovenous fistula which required surgery but your experience was incredible. So sorry and hope that everything goes well from now on. Very best wishes
Yes s--t does happen sometimes and we have both been lucky to survive very rare events but the important thing is we did survive! Lucky for me I was away with the fairies when my strange event occurred but still suffered considerable pain for a very long time afterwards. I hope your experience heals faster and at least it doesn't sound like they broke any ribs. Take it easy now and let yourself heal gently.
My goodness what an awful thing to happen. Thank you for sharing, the fact that you are feeling well enough to post is positive and that you are in SR. Have they explained how it happened? As someone else mentioned do look after your mental health in case of post trauma blues.
I hope you can have plenty time at home to recuperate. Keep us up to date.
What a frightening experience for you. Like Kellyjelly above I think I stopped breathing when I was reading your post.
I too had a cardiac tamponade during my ablation but mine was fairly straightforward compared to what happened to you. My biggest problem afterwards was lack of confidence to go anywhere or do anything and it wasn't until I'd seen the EP again and he told me everything was fine I felt I could get on with my life.
Oh poor you. What an ordeal. Isn’t science wonderful. Yes you had a terrifying experience but you survived to tell us all about it and it is scary but we’re all in the medical professionals hands and we have to have faith in them. Onwards and upwards perkman. Have a great day and speedy recovery ❤️shiona
I’m sorry for what you’ve had to endure. Thank you for relaying your experience to us. We need to hear the bad as well as the good. Wishing you an uneventful recovery☘️
So glad you made it, it must have been very frightening for you and wish you a speedy recovery, I’m off to the hospital tomorrow for a heart scan and ecg Friday so fingers crossed. Be better asap and lots of rest x
Wow! You have been through such a difficult time while having ablation - it has been difficult to read your post and cringed when you described the pain experienced. Take it you had more than a little sedation to get through all of that?!
Do let us know how your recovery is going - and thank you for sharing your experience
Thank goodness you are ok after that experience. It just shows that when they tell you, beforehand, it only happens to 1 in a 1000, somebody has to be that one. If you ever need another ablation the odds are on your side. You surely can't be that unfortunate again.
I also had cardiac tamponade on my first pvi ablation, they only accomplished the left atrium, I had a drain tube and was in icu, but no other complications. I had a difficult airway so that added to the extreme pain afterward. I had no problems with the second surgery to finish the pvi ablation, although the right atrium is not the difficult area. I am told it is uncommon, but is one of the risk factors. I was at the #1 heart center in the US, Cleveland Clinic, so they were experienced to handle it. I thank God that I pursued going there, we lived 16 hours from there, so we flew for the trip. Please keep us informed of your recovery, bless you it can be tough.
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