http://www.americanmedical-id.com/marketplace/category.php?mastercategory=bracelets&bbscrollerpage=7&scrollcat=brac_curve


Very stylish. :-)

I got a really nice one on e.bay

Jeez, for $56 it better show your life history and then some. I carry a card in my wallet with all my info on it. i know "what if I lose my wallet or don't have it on me" That's the chance I'll take. The risk of that happening is surely lower than the risk of having a successful ablation these days.

Correction. $59.

LOL...I think I paid $12.00 for my medical ID bracelet. Ablation...not a good word for me right now. The last one lasted 5 hr. Is that a record? I think down the road they all fail. I'm not doing it again.

Tomorrow...

Hope you aren't saying that ablations fail over time... i've had two in 3 months... Also, the first on was RF, and I was in the OR from before 7 AM to after 1 PM...of course not all that time was the ablation... My back was really killing me afterwards. Much worse than the procedure itself.

I'm planning to stop meds Pearl Harbor Day... we'll see how that goes. And like you, another ablation is not in the picture.

RFclark

I'm saying that if you are in persistent A-Fib, as I am, the chances of an ablation working longterm are probably 0 to none. My Dr. says he could probably do 5 on me and I wouldn't stay in sinus rhythm....so I've given up on them. If you are proxysmal your chances are good. I had quite a time with the one I had...a really bad experience, so I wouldn't go through it again. I ended up with a collapsed lung, which is still causing shortness of breath, and a pleural effusion. I came out of the ablation worse then I went in. I guess if I had gotten 6-7 mo. I would have been thrilled, but alas it only lasted a few hours. They just aren't for me.

Read/watch this: http://www.stopafib.org/newsitem.cfm/NEWSID/305/atrial%20fibrillation%205-box%20total%20thoracoscopic%20maze%20procedure/Dr.%20John%20Sirak%20video

The 5 Box is the best bet for persistent afib as far as I can tell. It does involve the atrial appendage though... but it is done with 1/4 inch holes. Ablation and drugs don't seem to have a good track record for persistent afib. Maze procedures do however... if you like open heart surgery. 5 Box eliminates that drastic approach and works.

I didn't read the article, Petey. The minute you said "open heart" I knew I would never go through that again. I had open heart surgery 11 years ago...never, never again. It was the most painful thing I've ever had to recover from. I did great for 11 years though till the A-fib. I wish I'd had a warning besides being tired and dizzy, because everyone was missing the mark. I only have follow-ups with my cardiologist once a year now...well I did anyway...so my PCP never thought it was my heart. By the time I saw a cardiologist there is no telling how long I'd been in A-Fib, but chances are a yr. or more. The drugs that seem to help others wouldn't help me, because I have never had high BP...I have low BP, and I can't afford to lower it anymore. I'm stuck with this I think(: At least I know I have good company and someone to talk to.

BTW, I'm not a candidate even for the mini-maze because I've had previous heart surgery....I guess it's because of the scarring that is left. You, however, would probably be a good candidate, except my Dr. isn't big on the mini-maze at all. Check it out good if you decide on it. I wish I'd left well enough alone to be honest.

This 5 box thing isn't open heart surgery and isn't exactly like minimaze, but I have this nagging thought to leave well enough alone also. There is a debate in my head going on from what I read on the various websites and people say about not doing anything being bad and the bad results I hear about with procedures. If I'm not 100% convinced I should have a procedure, I'm not going to do anything. The Bystolic is working well to control my heart rate and the Pradaxa puts my stroke risk to the general public's risk because my CHADS2VASC score was zero (according to my EP).

5 Box is the ONLY procedure that is appropriate for persistent afib from what I have read. Minimaze and ablation don't hit all the areas and have higher safety problems from what I've read.

Since I'm asymptomatic, the gains are pretty much confined to whether or not I'm protecting my heart or avoiding some other complications as I get older.