Best of luck to you Paul and a speedy recovery.

Gee I just had 5 whole days of NSR. I was beginning to think my AFIB went of vacation to duck out from my ablation. However, things are back to normal now and I'm bouncing around between 60 & 110 beats/minute at rest. And last night was a peeing marathon Maybe it will straighten out when I go to the gym this morning.

Hey Bill: Did you get a Brazilian when you got your ablation? Does that mean you can wear that new thong? Inquiring minds want to know.

Paul,
I just had to laugh...they didn't mention anything about shaving, but they shaved everything just as bald as a newborn baby. And since I was in that study, I would say, oh, at least 50 nurses got to come in and check the area to make sure everything was ok. To their credit, none of them laughed!

I may have told this story here once before, not sure..blew out my knee in Morocco, and had to be taken to the hospital, where they drained the knee and did X-Rays. So I am talking to the doc, and outside the door are like 20 nurses checking me out. I was just the teensyist bit embarrassed. I said to the doc..."Um, they are nurses right? Why would they be looking at me? I don't have anything any other man doesn't have." And he said "Well, you are 6 feet four and LILY white from head to toe. Most of these nurses think that is kind of funny, and they haven't seen it before." So, after that experience and the one at Hopkins, nope, don't think I can be embarrassed about anything that happens to me at the hospital.

Lily white Bill

I was at the doctor's office today and yesterday (I'll explain on another thread) and the nurse pulled my shirt up and commented "Your shirt is so soft, I really like how it feels". I didn't know they had to pull your shirt up to take your blood pressure... okay, I'm kidding about the last part, it was an echo, but she did comment on my shirt.

petey

Worked so far for me.......hope same for you . Good luck.

Liljohny,
It is quite clear that you are NOT someone named Johny,
but SANTA CLAUS! I watch Hallmark every Christmas, and know the rules. Since I recognize you, you are required to grant me a Christmas wish. Can you please provide me with at least the winning Big Ball number for this evening's drawing? (1-15). If you would like to provide me with the other 5 numbers (1-75), that would be nice, but I will leave that up to you. But it would be a great help to at least have the Big Ball number. Thanks, Santa.

I still believe in you!
Bill

Well three weeks to go before 'A' day. I'm doing fine, but Sharon is a bit of a basket case. I saw the EP on Tuesday, she said my heart is strong, and there should be no problem. I was a little surprised to learn that they will do the ablation without modifying my Coumadin. She said that the research indicates modifying the Coumadin prior to this type of surgery is a lot riskier than just leaving it alone. I had expected to go on Lovenox for a while. She said that was a lot riskier than leaving the Coumadin alone. I suspect that if I were on a NOAC it would be a different story. I don't know if that fact that I have a stroke history influences this decision.

Last month she added 5 mg of Norvasc to lower my blood pressure which seems to work well. My blood pressure is down a little over 10 points both mornings and afternoon. And, I feel well, my AFIB seems to be reduced, I've been going a week or more at a time without afib compared to 2-4 episodes a week a few months ago. The EP even said that after the ablation I might be able to get off the metoprolol, we'll see. Boy that would be nice.

My workouts in the gym are nearly at pre-stroke levels. Cardio work is back to 1.5 hrs 3x per week. Most of the weight work is down about 10% in pounds. I won't try increasing any more until after the procedure.

On 3/31 I go for the pre-op blood work and CT Angiography to map the blood vessels in my heart. Keeping my fingers crossed.

BTW, my insurance company finally finished paying off the stroke hospitalization (3 days, 2 night plus ER). The bill was over $26,000 the insurance company paid their discounted rate of about $15,000. My out of pocket was zero.

It all sounds good Paul.....ONWARD !!!!!! with love and luck
jan

Paul,
I believe the goal of an ablation is to get off all medication, isn't it? Of course, since you have had a stroke, they may want to keep you on blood thinners. But you are in such good shape. When I saw my cardiologist after my diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, he said that normally he would put a fat old man like me on long lasting metoprolol, but he decided against it since I am in the reserves and he believed I would actually take my docs orders to begin working out on a regular basis. I somehow doubt that you are in ANY danger of developing metabolic syndrome, with the time you spend working out...of course, the ablation does increase BP for many. Mine went from averaging 116/70 to, well, it has varied, since I have had spikes since the ablation. But it has seemed to flatten out quite a bit since I have been working out 60-120 minutes per day (not the same workout as you and Petey. Mine involved a recumbent bike or 20 minutes on the elliptical, and lifting 80 pounds for maybe 20 minutes). As with all this stuff, I guess these decisions are made by the docs on a case by case basis.
It sure sounds as if you have made a wonderful and quick recovery from the stroke, and you are in shape to face this next step! Heading to church in 15 minutes and will throw a prayer out there for you!
Glad that insurance covered everything for you. Next is the ablation mess...I only had to pay about $5K out of pocket for mine, out of the $117K bill. So I was quite happy for that. Hopefully your insurance does even better than that.

Bill

Bill:
I'll take all the prayers I can get ! I don't mind staying on the Coumadin, for several reasons:
1: I had a stroke;
2: I'm a bit older than you, will be 65 in August;
3: I have a history of DVT's and pulmonary embolisms;
4: After I'm on Medicare, I will pressure one of my docs to get involved with at home INR testing. I understand that you need to be on Coumadin for six months before Medicare will pay for it. By the time I'm on Medicare, it will be eight months on Coumadin.
5: Just feel more comfortable with the Coumadin than a NOAC.

Jan :: Thanks for your support

On insurance:: I had worked for the State of New York for 23 years. When I vested out at 46 to pursue challenges in private industry, the deal was if I paid the entire premium until I was 55, at 55 I would go back in the pool and pay only 10% of the premium (now 15%). New York State has great health insurance for its employees. So even though I worked in private industry for the next 20 years and could get Health Insurance from the companies I worked for, I continued paying my NYS Health insurance. I definitely considered that a wise decision.

May God bless u, Paul., and guide your Doctors:) You are in great shape and will do well - just take one day at a time and don't push yourself too hard! Will be with u all the way and you have wonderful support and love from. Ur beautiful "bride.
Hugs and love,
Christine

Hi Paul,

No sweat, your ablation will go just fine, trust me :-) I have been there and I have seen the technology that these doctors (EP) use. You are going to be just fine.

That is funny that you are going for a pre-op. I got a call from the hospital the afternoon before my ablation. They told me to be there at 5 AM in the next morning. That was it. Nothing before the procedure, even a blood work. For blood thinner, I was taking nattokinase and I told them. They said NO problem. However, they looked for blood clot in my heart before the procedure.

I can tell you that they load you with blood thinner during the procedure. Later, after you are done before they pull out the sheaths, they inject you with vitamin K1 to make your blood a little thicker so you don't bleed out when they pull out the sheaths. The whole thing is pretty impressive but very routine for them, just like flying for the airline or fighter pilots.

You will be in and out, a piece of cake :-) Just make sure to let them know if you have a lot of pain in your groin, specially if the pain is getting worse. More than likely, it is a slow internal bleeding in the puncture site.

Also, ask them if they use an artery or a vein to get in. In my case, my EP used a vein. So, any bleeding was very slow. I think, any more, the EPs use a vein to get in. It is just less risky if something goes wrong like in my case.

Any way, I wish you lots of luck. It is going to go well and you will be very happy with the results.

As far as your insurance, yes, you made an excellent choice staying with NYS insurance. Very smart choice.

Bill - It sounds to me that you are doing great too. Keep it up, man. Before you know it, you will be ready to do the O-Course :-) I know you can't wait for that day, you just love to do the O-Course, LOL.

Have a nice Sunday,
Scott

Hi Paul, Scott (who has been a blessing with his friendship and advice) is right about the thinners. he states the same thing my EP did, in my case it was heparin during the procedure, was told to take my xarelto at 12:00 noon the day before the procedure and not after dinner as was the normal time. He also did the blood clot check after I was out and all was well he went ahead with the ablation. Had bad afib after but it finally calmed down. I was told that could happen, disappointing yes, but when you have an idea of what to expect it does help you cope. First week or so was really rough for me, then had flutters off and on, again disappointing but manageable. Still on the Tikosyn, lower dose of Cartia and Eliquis. Go in this coming Tuesday for my three month check up and will be put on a monitor. From there hopefully off some of the meds, baby steps for me I guess. We are all different, so try not to be disappointed if you have some bumps, it will work itself out eventually. You will be fine and I am sending the good vibes your way! Happy days are just ahead!