I just got home from 4 days in the hospital...four horrible days. If you don't want to hear the bad things about ablation, then please don't read any further. I would never have it done again. If I was younger and did not have persistent A-fib it would be different maybe...maybe. I can out of this surgery feeling like a was run over by a two-ton truck. Who knew you could feel so much pain from it. I also couldn't breathe....One of my lungs had collapsed, and I'm clueless how this happened. I couldn't tolerate the med..Tikosyn, and that's the last of the meds that work. The line's on my EKG were getting longer and longer on small doses and could have sent me itno a fatal arrhythmia. I came home yesterday-after also having hemorrages from both groin sites (probably the past coumadin in my body), had oxyten delivered, and I'm worse off after having gone through this. If you can control your rate...if you are not the perfect candidate, I would never tell anyone to do this after having done it myself. I had 2 IV's...a arterial blood gas line (which hurt horribly), could not stand the pain of a potassium drip (and I'm no baby-I've been through open heart surgery, and I swear this was worse). They thought the meds caused shortness of breath, so it was the 3rd day before anyone ordered a chest x-ray and found the lund collapsed. If you are on the fence about ablation...if you have had A-fib more then a year, what they don't tell you is chances are not good you will stay in sinus rhythm. The only med left is amiodarone and I absolutely refuse to take that super toxic drug. So, that's my story folks. I am going to be living with this..maybe even unplanned oxygen, which I never wanted, but I am at least alive. If you are told your chances are 50/50...please don't try it. The odds are not good for you.
All my best to my friends here,
Dee