Just thought I'd give a little update after a fruitful appointment and review today, and hopefully make those thinking or being indicated suitable for Ablation feel there is some hope with this horrible condition we all endure with new treatments coming available.
Today I had my 9 months checkup with Dr Stephen Murray at Freeman Hospital, and ecg and other checks carried out confirming what I already knew, frankly can't believe I can say it.... I'm AF free!, this, after enduring 5 years of paroxysmal, then permanent AF for the latter part of 2018, which literally ran a big truck through my quality of life.
My QI mapped Cryo Ablation at freeman's for fast tachy issues and horrible bouts of AF carried out in April 19 seems to have been a success, to date no problems since July 19, when I endured a bad bout of flutter needing Cardioversion abroad , now moving on with no flutter, missed, skipped beats or tachy episodes, thankfully it seems I've some respite and a level of success from the near 7 hour operation.
This is the first Christmas I can remember that I've had in a long while that I haven't been laid up, or in A@E at some point with AF or fast tachy issues , this holiday time even enduring a bout of flu over Xmas / New year which historically always initiated something AF related , again, this did give me some hope that I was winning the Afib war and a positive start for 2020.
Plan given today is I'm to stop taking Apixaban (CHADS based seemingly) , and titrate off the bisoprolol (dreading it), with the caveat to keep a store for pill in pocket should it be required for both lots of medication , so the next couple of months is going to test again the hope that it's "in its box" for now! and life can be normal for however long I can achieve.Though I'm under no illusions this can change, reading so many stories and life experiences here, who knows, I suppose any day without AF is a bonus, but positive thinking helps .
I can't sing Dr Murrays praises enough, from day one proving to be one of the most approachable, and empathetic, yet professional experts I've ever come across. He filled me with confidence and listened to my concerns from the start, and this did help me make the decision to go ahead with the new procedure he offered me last April, and the aftercare by the hospital and his team was faultless .
His parting words today when we talked about the advances in mapping procedures, and other evolving advances in the field was "watch this space", with a wry smile when I asked why , hinting there was something new on the horizon, it made me wonder if there is something more in the pipeline for AF sufferers ? Maybe there is something shining more light in the dark AF tunnel to get some hope for us, can't come to soon I'm sure we all agree .
My personal plan! just take each day as it comes , don't look too far ahead, don't expect this a miracle cure, just accept today has been a good day in AF land and a step in the right direction instead of years of feeling helpless ,losing a battle which became so debilitating, and stopped life in its tracks, in my case it's a chance to get some normality back and live again .
My favourite movie of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, has a line in it which sums the feelings of the past few years up, "I was in the path of the tornado. I just didn’t expect the storm would last as long as it has", it really says it all.
Got to know some truly nice people joining this forum, had some laughs, and some downs, had loads of support, and some telling off because of my dry humour 😂, sorry Jean 😉, but I'm hanging around in here joining the odd debate and chat, as it's just a nice bunch of reprobates in general to be around .
Ablation 
Af and Tachycardia...Joy!!
Post ablation recovery
5 months post ablation
