Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.

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montos 12/12/2015

Hi everyone,

I had an ablation in Bordeaux France on June 8th, 2015. Dr. Hocini was my EP and I can't say enough good things about her or the hospital (well, to be honest, the hospital is a bit old and tired but the care is top rate).

I had some problems with bruising after the procedure, mainly because I was in France and we were touring around doing a lot of walking. Aside from that, the 3 month blanking period was pretty uneventful. I did have one or two episodes of runs of ectopic beats that almost felt like Afib but they lasted less than 5 seconds so, although scary, they were nothing serious.
I do get the odd skipped beat that I can feel. Some days it's none, some days it's 5-10 but nothing serious.

All in all, it's been life changing. It's wonderful to not have to worry about sleeping on my left side or have to run to the bathroom in the middle of a meeting to do valsalva maneuvers to stop my afibs.

I'm off any antiarrythmics and beta blockers but at my doctors orders I'm still on Warfarin for 3 more months.

So far so good.

Monty

tcaepayguy 12/15/2015

Felicitations! Et comment ca va, la belle Bordeaux? I was wondering how it went, I must say...so glad to hear that you were able to have the ablation done in the number one city dans le monde entier for ablations! Of course, that ticked me off, I must say. As Americans, we are ENTITLED to THE best care and procedures...imagine my dismay when I found out the best is in Bordeaux...that was so funny, since my immersion family lived right along the bus line to that hospital, and I would pass it EVERY morning on the way to class...then to hear that this is the place where the operations are done...just saw the outside, but you are correct, always looked a tad run down to me. So glad to hear everything worked out!

Bill

montos 12/16/2015

Thanks Bill! Yeah the outside of the hospital is a little run down and there's about 100 people out front smoking at any given time. I guess that's why their cardiac hospitals do such good business.
Seriously though, first rate care.
We were able to get to Arcachon before I went to the hospital and we did get a bit of a tour of Bordeaux afterwards.
All in all, a good choice, I think. My French got a little better... But not much.

Thanks
Monty

tcaepayguy 12/16/2015

Oh, Arcachon is INCREDIBLY beautiful! So glad you got to tour around..if you want to improve your French, they have SO many language schools...we were in Bordeaux twice, last year in Montpellier...they are saying either Nice or Tours next May, IF the Army let's them go...I heard they had a bit of trouble a month or so back...of course, I am now discharged, so the Army won't pay any longer for my trips..sigh. I am 3 years out and still have the PACs, or extraneous beats of some kind that I shouldn't try to identify, cuz I will just tell you the wrong thing. But the one thing I can tell you is, the 6 month blanking period is just the beginning...my EP told me that it really takes two full years to recover from the trauma done to the heart...but SO GLAD I did it! And so glad you had the opportunity to go to the center of it all!

Bill

tomorrowsdream 12/16/2015

I wish I had known when I had my ablation that the most they last are 5 years. I don't know if I would have had it done. I remained A-fib free for 3 years, so it's disappointing when it comes back. My hope for you is that it doesn't, but just enjoy the days without it. Good luck.

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