I had a cryoablation back in February. Although both cryo and RF (radiofrequency) ablations are considered safe procedures, cryo is considered to be the safer of the two, and many times is what an EP will try for your first time.

As heart surgeries go, an ablation is really a piece of cake. You'll more than likely be completely sedated. You'll likely have a cardiac MRI the day or week before the procedure. This gives your EP a roadmap to follow. They'll insert a catheter in your femoral veins in each leg and snake the catheters up into your heart to ablate.

Afterwards they'll just have you lying as still as possible so that the wounds in your thighs can close up. A few hours after the procedure, they'll have you up and walking around. They'll probably keep you in the hospital overnight just to observe you, and send you home the next morning.

Aside from the instructions your doctor gives you, there's not much you need to do to prepare for an ablation. From a patient's point of view, there's not much to it. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

The best piece of advice I can give is to do your research as to who the best person is to perform the procedure. Ask your doctor how many cryo ablations he/she has performed, success rates of past patients, his best guess for your chances of success. It's also important to check out the hospital where the procedure will be performed. Is it just a local general hospital? Or a specialized heart center with the latest equipment and people who know how to use it? This is your heart we're talking about - it's worth it to ask those questions.

Have you heard about Nephrenic Nerve complications or did you have recurring episodes afterwards or chest pain?

Thank you so much for responding. this is a personal thing and Yah it is my heart and it's a little scary. Much appreciated

Never heard of the nephrenic nerve.

I didn't have any chest pain, or really any pain at all. After the surgery I had zero arrhythmia - none - for an entire month. Then it came back with a fury. My EP doubled my dose of flecainide and we scheduled ablation #2. That happened in late June, and so far I'm still arrhythmia-free. Keeping my fingers crossed.

For many people they can be curative, but many doctors consider ablation to be a "treatment" instead of a "cure", meaning it's possible that more than one procedure will be necessary. So while it's good to be hopeful that one procedure will be all you need, just realize that it may take more than one.

It's also normal to have some afib in the "blanking period" after an ablation (which is normally 3 months).

I'm in my second month of "blanking" ... so far so good. One more month to go!

Question - After your Ablation worked, did they start taking you off of any medications? They said they would take me off Digoxin if the Ablation worked. They took me off Digoxin when I had the Ablation done, but then they had to put me back on it because my heart rate went up to 130 during my first month of blanking.