Day 4 post ablation

[AfibofFleet]

All still going ok. I can still smell petroleum now and again but it’s reducing. I’m sleeping well, which is much better than the restless sleep I was having pre ablation, I’m not sure if this is due to coming off the Amiodarone or the ablation.

I felt fairly normal in the first couple of days but that has turned into feeling washed out from day 3. I feel very cold at times too.

I’m finding it hard to sit around as I’m usually playing tennis/working/walking or at yoga. I went for a slow short walk yesterday as it was crisp and sunny but that made me very tired. So back to the puzzle! I feel fine if I rest.

The wound is very colourful but dry and not painful, nor do I have chest pain. I can feel strange heart beats but I’ve read the Ablation Recovery fact sheet so not worried.

All in all ok so far!

[Hidden]

Great news, pleased to hear that you are still doing OK. This will be helpful to folk like Heartready2go who are about to have their first ablation......don’t be tempted to do anything.....if your thigh is black ‘n blue, you can probably imagine what the inside of your heart must look like!!!

[BobD Volunteer]

Just use that groin wound as a marker for what you heart feels like. Two weeks rest please so take it easy. All sounds on track.

[CDreamer]

That all sounds par for the course for this stage so pacing yourself is really important now - very difficult for an active person but do as I say, not as I did which was felt great so did too much & ended up in Acute care for 3 days!

Time & very gradual return to exercise & plenty of rest for recuperation.

Best wishes CD

[Dawsonmackay]

Glad that you are feeling better. Please do not take a walk longer than ten minutes for two weeks. I found out the hard way - taking a longer walk after five days was a BIG mistake and I was back in Afib pronto. Also, when I came home from my first ablation, I was so cold that I piled six blankets on me to stop shivering. You have to remember that the heart pumps the blood and is also the thermostat for heat in the body. I had to keep telling myself that nothing was wrong and that I had at least 250,000 years of evolution working behind me to get the heart to ignite the furnace. By the next morning I was fine. Take care of yourself.

[AfibofFleet in reply to Dawsonmackay]

Thanks.. good advice and will holdback on the walk.

[Edstiffler13]

Your groin wound has nothing to do with what your heart looks like. Your heart doesn’t look anything like your groin I promise. The groin bruise is from where multiple nurses have to all push their hands on your groin for a long period of time with ALL of their weight to get your artery to clot and stop bleeding. Once the bleeding has clotted and stopped blood pools in that spot. The ablation is a very gradual perfection procedure. Your atrium will be a little irritated yes but nothing dangerous. And your electrophysiologist will tell you it takes 3 months for your heart to heal and that’s not true either. That is a standard that all cardiologists use to tell their patients. My surgeon is a family friend and told me personally the heart is completely healed in 6 weeks they just tell the patient 3 months to buy them extra time. Hope you get well soon! Take it slow!

[AfibofFleet in reply to Edstiffler13]

Ok thanks for the advice. I’ll take it easy just gauge and increase walks when I feel I can do it..

[t1cker]

Really interested in your reference to smell of petroleum. I quite often smell something like diesel fumes or chemical pollution where there is no obvious source. The smell doesn't last long and I hadn't associated it with AF or the drugs I am taking: thyroxine, Apixaban and Digoxin. It's always just been a mystery to me. Have you found out what causes the smell? Best of luck with your recovery.

[AfibofFleet in reply to t1cker]

Thanks for the good wishes. I understand from this forum the smell was from the tubes during surgery.. so to be honest I’m not sure what causes it. I didn’t have the funny taste beforehand though and it’s barely present now. I thought it was the hospital as it was very strong straight after surgery.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.

[exbcmc]

Why the petroleum smell?

[AfibofFleet in reply to exbcmc]

No idea but when i breathed in after surgery it was very strong chemical smell.. carried on for a few days. Must be to do with tube/camera down your throat for 5hours.