I was thinking of the best way to celebrate my eight month anniversary since my WMM (Wolf Mini Maze) in Tokyo by Dr Ohtsuka at the NewHeart Watanabe Hospital.
I am still in NSR (normal sinus rhythm) and my divorce from AFib is finalised. As our friend Jim knows, I went a little mad (as you do) when at 6 months post-Op and caused a stomach/diaphragm issue, which thankfully went away after taking PPI medication for 28 days.
What can I say. I've had some ten approaches from people (including from the UK) interested in the procedure which is not readily available in their home country. In a few weeks eight folks will have followed me to Tokyo for the procedure.
If you recall, I had a very easy surgery and recovery. After the first day I did not require any pain-killers and did not feel that I just had heart surgery. The scars were eight small punctures, four on either side of the chest, and have mostly gone by now (just two dots more noticeable on the right side). I stayed in Tokyo for four weeks after the surgery (Covid days) and on the day that I left Japan for Greece, I walked 10-12 Kms along the Sumida river in 2 hours :30 minutes.
I am at peace with my heart. Hardly ever check rate and rhythm. Can imbibe G&T and coffee (all moderately), can exercise every day at 550 Kcal/hr with heart reaching 120 by the end of a 45 minute stint. I can walk uphill here in Athens even in the crazy heat that we are having. The heart is very steady even if the other bits of the body are creaky.
You may remember that the hospital is appointed like a boutique hotel, with luxurious private rooms. The food is artistically prepared and beautifully balanced as all things Japanese. The staff were amazing with their electronic translators and they check up on you many times a day (you can sleep till 08:00).
Finally the travel from Europe is long and may include a lengthy stop-over. The cost is reasonable (I don't know how they do it) at just 18,000 EUR for everything: travel, accommodation, pre-Op tests, surgery, recovery, 2 follow-up surgeon visits, food and entertainment). I went alone and was lucky to get good deals on the hotel and the EUR/YEN exchange rate.
Let me end by quoting Anders, from Finland, who just had his surgery a few days ago.
I send my love to you all and wish us all an Afib-free life and the freedom and peace that we crave.
Saul
**********************
Anders from Finland today:
"Here is a summary of my stay at NewHeart Watanabe in Tokyo. It is a bit long but I wanted to document this completely, hopefully it helps someone like other stories here helped me in April when I first heard about Wolf MiniMaze and Wolf Ohtsuka Procedure.
I am 62 years old and I have suffered from paroxysmal afib over 25 years, 2 times per week on average so well over 2000 episodes, typically 65-95 bpm while in afib. Typical set of drugs: flecainide that luckily still gets me out of the afib episodes (normally takes 3 hours - 2 days), Eliquis as blood thinner etc. Afib has affected my life in a tremendously negative way, for instance no fun with any sport when heart is in afib so much. For whatever reason, my heart has not gone into persistent afib which according to Dr Ohtsuka is highly unusual considering my afib started so many years ago. An added complication is the fact that I have persistent LSVC, a structural anomaly that about 0.5 % of the population has. LSVC is a common trigger of afib and it makes it less likely that cathether ablations would work. I have had 3 ablations (2009, 2010 and 2022) and they all failed miserably: back in afib within 36 hours after each one: apparently ablations can't treat the LSVC effectively, at least not for me.
Through a remarkable coincidence I found out about ************* in late April of this year. He directed me to Dr Ohtsuka, to this group and I found out about Dr Wolf, watched the YouTube videos and read the posts here. I have lone afib (no other medical issues) and it appears to be vagal afib so the Wolf MiniMaze/Wolf Ohtsuka Procedure should be a great match for this problem.
At home in Finland from the doctors it was "get used to the idea that it will become persistent afib" and this is just absolutely awful advice: I do not want to get used to this so Dr Ohtsuka was clearly my last hope. Since he has had patients with LSVC and he has been able to help them I was optimistic before I came here that he may be able to fix this once and for all. The prospect of suffering with this for the rest of my life was unbearable.
Came to Japan on the 16th, to the hospital on the 18th (for all the tests, CT-scans, X-rays etc). There has been zero problems communicating with the extremely friendly nurses using the Google Translate phone app. Surgery was last Thursday (20th), I woke up around 11:30 after surgery and surprisingly had almost no pain, this also surprised the doctors and the nurses a great deal. I had read that many in this group have reported severe pain right after surgery. Now when I write this, 105 hours later everything has progressed extremely smoothly and I am in perfect sinus rhythm since the surgery. I am very sensitive to irregular heartbeats (25 years of experience...) but I have not been able to detect a single irregular heartbeat during this time which is astonishing considering that my heart has not been in continuous NSR even 70 hours this whole year before a new afib episode has begun. Clearly something changed with the surgery.
A couple of times I have had a feeling that "now afib is starting". Before surgery if I felt this, I could immediately measure my pulse and find irregular heartbeats. However, now when this happens and I measure the pulse: it is completely regular! So perhaps whatever signal normally triggers my afib now runs into the "barriers created by Dr Ohtsuka" (or whatever the correct terminology is) and never manages to start an afib episode. It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has felt something similar after surgery.
So although it is still very early, it sure looks like I am getting my life back and don't have to suffer with this any longer, truly, truly amazing. I just can't believe it quite yet...
I will check out from the hospital two days from now, on Wednesday, come back for a meeting with Dr Ohtsuka next Monday and fly back home to Finland on Wednesday the 2nd of August, 9 days earlier than originally planned.
So right now I am so thankful:
- that I by accident found out about *********, this Facebook group, Dr Wolf and Dr Ohtsuka
- for this absolutely phenomenal hospital and the fantastic staff: for instance all nurses are UNBELIEVABLY friendly and take such great care of you.
- most of all I am thankful for the incredible surgeon Dr Ohtsuka who seems to have fixed my afib problem and altered my life forever
Generally in life, there are not that many people that manage to do what Dr Ohtsuka and Dr Wolf have done: with their unique method and skill they truly make the world a better place. That's the highest honor you can get.
Dr Ohtsuka, nurses, my physiotherapist, other doctors: I will never forget what you did for me so THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! "
Ever so grateful ~ 
Radiofrequency ablation 11 days later
Ectopics and Digestive Difficulties
Seeking Honest Feedback on the Minimaze Procedure for Atrial Fibrillation
