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.
Hey gang. I'm writing to you from Austin, TX where I am 3 days post my ablation with Dr. Natale. I'll be down here until Wednesday morning. Our family decided to rent a town home down here for a week so that I could properly recover.
The ablation on Thursday went about as smooth as one can go! My procedure only took 2 hours and other than a sore and dry scratchy throat and some temporary chest discomfort, I had no other issues. To date I haven't even had a single heart palpitation let alone any afib issues.
I'm still battling some minor fluid build up in my body but I'm taking Lasix and potassium for that. Other than that the throat is almost back to normal already and the chest feels perfectly fine!
I wrote a detailed post about my ablation experience on my blog if you're interested:
http://www.livingwithatrialfibrillation.com/1434/catheter-ablation-experience/
I'll be posting a lot more details, information, photos, etc. on my blog in the days and weeks to come. I just wanted to check in with everyone and let you know my first ablation (and hopefully last) has been a walk in the park so far (knock on wood).
Now it's just a matter of waiting for the blanking period to end so I can see if Dr. Natale was able to cure me after one procedure. He said my odds of being "one and done" were very high but of course he couldn't promise anything. He said my case was very straight forward and I was fortunate enough to get ahead of this and "catch it early." Note to those of you on the fence about having an ablation...do it sooner than later!! I've been battling afib for 9 years and if I had to do it all over, I would have had the ablation years ago.
At any rate, I'll keep you all posted in the days and weeks to come. I want to thank everyone here again for being so supportive and encouraging about having an ablation. I'm really hoping this procedure is a game changer for me. Only time will tell, I guess.
God Bless!
Travis
The ablation on Thursday went about as smooth as one can go! My procedure only took 2 hours and other than a sore and dry scratchy throat and some temporary chest discomfort, I had no other issues. To date I haven't even had a single heart palpitation let alone any afib issues.
I'm still battling some minor fluid build up in my body but I'm taking Lasix and potassium for that. Other than that the throat is almost back to normal already and the chest feels perfectly fine!
I wrote a detailed post about my ablation experience on my blog if you're interested:
http://www.livingwithatrialfibrillation.com/1434/catheter-ablation-experience/
I'll be posting a lot more details, information, photos, etc. on my blog in the days and weeks to come. I just wanted to check in with everyone and let you know my first ablation (and hopefully last) has been a walk in the park so far (knock on wood).
Now it's just a matter of waiting for the blanking period to end so I can see if Dr. Natale was able to cure me after one procedure. He said my odds of being "one and done" were very high but of course he couldn't promise anything. He said my case was very straight forward and I was fortunate enough to get ahead of this and "catch it early." Note to those of you on the fence about having an ablation...do it sooner than later!! I've been battling afib for 9 years and if I had to do it all over, I would have had the ablation years ago.
At any rate, I'll keep you all posted in the days and weeks to come. I want to thank everyone here again for being so supportive and encouraging about having an ablation. I'm really hoping this procedure is a game changer for me. Only time will tell, I guess.
God Bless!
Travis
I am really happy for you. I am delighted that your procedure went without any problem. That is fantastic.
Thanks for the update via your blog. It sounds like you were in good hands. I am sure your resting heart rate will come down later. High HR appears to be normal right after an ablation.
Wish you a very smooth and fast recovery.
Take care,
Scott
Thank you for your post .. I went to your website and really appreciate the information and plan to keep up with your posts. I live in OK - so I will most likely be working with Dr. Natale - I've heard such great things about him.
I will keep you (along with all the DS posters) in my prayers.
Charlene
The thing with the heart rate it really does jump after the ablation, mine did too. Unfortunately, mine wasnt as low as yours to start with and the ablation made it almost skyrocket. They had the machines in the nurses room to beep if a heart rate went over 120 bpm. The first 4 hours of lying still it hovered around 110 but then I started to get antsy and just a little squirm sent it flying, needless to say I really set it off when I was able to get up. The nurse called the EP and begged him to set the level higher which he did (150).
So, heres to you and to an uneventful recovery. Dont try to do anything for a while; take it easy and enjoy your new NSR life!
Take care,
atp
Best of luck and NSR forever.
Dee
As a reminder, I also passed out as soon as I tried to stand up. And yes, worrying about the catheter is a major thingy.
Now, hold on for the 90 day ride!
You went to the best, good to hear.
I spent some time with the Maestro Adreas yesterday at a conference in White Plains!
What a GEM, truely one of a kind, humble to boot!
But when a couple of clueless EP's knocked his method as maybe being too agressive it got a little testy.....then I jumped in to githem an earful!
Don't mess with Texas
McHale
McHale
GREAT news! I am also a big fan of addressing afib with ablation as soon as you can...but in your case, who knows? You waited nine years, but then you got the big kahuna to do it. Nine years ago, you get some local Wisconsin doc who also sells cheese on the side, and maybe things don't turn out so well...you are done with this terrible affliction now, and probably in no small part cuz of the decision you made to go forward with this. Enjoy! NSR FOREVER!!
Bill
@McHale...I would have loved to have been there for that. The funny thing is, Dr. Natale is the furthest thing from being aggressive. He does EXACTLY what is needed - nothing more and nothing less. His goal is to make sure he doesn't see you again so yes, he's more thorough than most EPs. I wouldn't hardly call that aggressive. That's just being smart!
@Bill...Ya I should have done it a long time ago but I was only having an episode once a year or so. I told myself that as soon as it gets to be more than that, I'm having an ablation and that's exactly what I did. I didn't hesitate. In 2014 my episodes spiraled out of control so I scheduled it. And you're totally right. If I would have pulled the trigger years ago I definitely would have had some local EP do it not knowing any better so in a way everything turned out for the better.
@Petey...Dr. Natale didn't do any mapping before the procedure. He told me just based on my history with afib. He said unless there were any surprises, it should be a straight forward case and it shouldn't be more than 2 1/2 hours. He was right on the money.
Bill
Aggressive Ha! Well said he looks and hunts after he isolates the PVAI, so in my case he saw activity on on posterior wall, coronary sinus so who ablated, made a roof-line to breakup the atrial area that sustains afib too. Yes he's aggressive to many because the clueless EP's out there can't ablate with the likes of Natale. He's quick because he goes into a zone, rocks and drags the catheter back and forth in a motion for contiguous overlapping lesions as was described to me by Shannon who watched him ablate.
When I asked Dr Danik at St Lukes who was listed along with Dr Natale as doing my ablation, how much he did his answer was... NOTHing. He just assisted with the mapping and other tasks in the EP lab. The way he talked about Natale doing my ablation was amazing, never saw anyone ablate like that, went into a Zone,
non- stop ablation, foot on the gas just stopping monetarily to check the monitors to look for other areas outside the PVAi. Dr Danik was recruited from Mass General who have a great arrhythmia center with Top EP's.
McHale
I did have the cardioversion done but it didn't work for me - but I sure would like to get this out of this cycle as the restricted diet I have is impacting on other health problems I have.
Sure would be nice to have one less to concern us - as it is a family problem not just mine!