First AF Ablation this week

[Javelina]

Greetings,

Long-time lurker, first time poster here. Although I'm in the U.S. I've found this forum to be very helpful. Just for background, I'm 46 y.o. male in good health with no chronic conditions besides paroxysmal AF and atrial flutter. Cardiologist and EP feel that AF/flutter likely precipitated by atrial remodeling prior to my atrial septal defect repair at age 13 and scarring associated with the open heart surgery (it was done before catheter ASD repair was a thing, unfortunately). AF was well controlled with bisoprolol for 5+ years, but I was put on anti-arrhythmic meds (first Sotalol, and then Tikosyn), which both failed.

I am scheduled for a catheter ablation (pulmonary vein isolation and ablation for the typical atrial flutter) Friday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (our local health network is Mayo so it's in our network), which is about 90 miles from our home. The EP scheduled it in Rochester rather than here since one of his colleagues there is an EP who specializes in congenital heart defects. She can assist him as needed to get the catheters through the atrial septum, which is challenging since mine is patched.

I have great confidence in my EP and in the Mayo Clinic system, but of course I'm still a little nervous and apprehensive. I'm also scheduled for a CT scan to map my pulmonary veins and a transesophageal echo to confirm no blood clots in my heart tomorrow, which I'm not too worried about.

Although I've studied exhaustively and have read many posts about ablation on this forum, any advice, tips, insight, experiences, or encouragement would be most welcome! Thank you!

[Paulbounce]

Welcome to the forum Javelina.

You wrote

"I have great confidence in my EP and in the Mayo Clinic system, but of course I'm still a little nervous and apprehensive"

Of course you are - pretty understandable.

I can't really help about tips for your ablation as I've not had one (yet!). Reading your post it sounds like your EP is on the ball and you are in safe hands. I'm sure others who have been though the procedure will offer more insight than I.

Good luck - I'm sure everything will work out just fine for you.

Enjoy your day.

Paul

[Javelina in reply to Paulbounce]

Thank you, Paul.

[Dodie117]

Being nervous is human. In fact you would probably be an idiot if you were not nervous. Hang in there. The procedure itself is not normally difficult.

My main point would be don’t expect miracles immediately and don’t lose hope if the cessation of episodes is not immediate. And rest! Nothing for two weeks and very gradual return to walking etc. I had mine in 2013 , 5 months of bumps and arrhythmias followed but then stopped. I am still free of AF. Best thing ever.

Good luck 🍀

[Javelina in reply to Dodie117]

Thank you. I'm glad it worked so well for you!

[cpalmermn]

I’m here in MN as well. Went to Mayo when I first got Afib diagnosis, they are 2nd to none in thoroughness - 2 days of testing every aspect of my heart! Ended up doing my Ablation here in Mpls a few years later mostly for convenience. You’re in good hands there!

So much has progressed, it’s amazing what they can do from 2 tiny groin incisions. And speaking of, shave yourself from neck to knees the morning of if you don’t want Nurse Ratched doing it for you...good luck!

[Javelina in reply to cpalmermn]

Thank you for sharing. I feel fortunate to have the Mayo "Mother Ship" relatively nearby (we live in Eau Claire, WI so our local doctors/hospital is Mayo, too. We've been really happy with the care received and the team approach they use.

[TroublewithAF]

Hope you've completed the procedure and are back on your feet. My ablation is still holding fine 4 months out, though I did go into continuous flutter about 2 weeks after the procedure. Cardioversion 2 months after the ablation has sorted it. Just on Lixiana (Edoxaban) now. Best advice for post ablation is probably

remember it is surgery and how long external deep wounds take to heal . Keep the aerobic exercise down for a couple of months ( I didn't feel like doing much with our summer heatwave plus the flutter at 120-130)