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.
Well, I've decided to postpone the ablation. If I'm going to keep scarring my heart, I at least want it to count each time. I can't go thru what I did before and this not work again. So I'm off to Ohio State University and will be seeing Dr. Raul Weiss. I talked to a patient of his who had persistent AFIB and had a failed ablation at the same hospital as me. He sought out Dr. Weiss and had a successful ablation. From my understanding he's supposed to be tops but then so is my Doctor. And then I may take my vacation in Cali and see Dr. Natale. Even though the AFIB is more often now and I'll have to wait a while longer, I'm happy to have finally made a decision.
Wishing you all the best. Take care
It can NEVER hurt to get a second opinion. Please let us know if Dr. Natale is as impressive as everyone says! I know when I met Dr. Calkins at Hopkins I was sort of like "Wow, this guy is BRILLIANT!" and I hear many on this site (John) and the stopafib.org site that have the same felling about him. Just curious to see if you add your name to that list. Good luck in finding the right EP for you.
Bill
I wish you best of luck with Dr. Weiss. I hope he can perform the procedure sooner than later. Keep the faith.
Hopefully this time you can become afib free.
Take care,
Scott
I read ur post about postponing a second ablation! I wish you the best Are u still on the same treatment? Hope it is still working for
u:)
We are about to have our first BIG snow storm - more in mountains!
Enjoy ur weekend.
Hugs and take care.
Christine
You've been thru quite an ordeal with your ablation and you've made a smart choice to postpone your next procedure.
No doubt, there is a growing number of outstanding EPs out there and more gaining valuable experience and knowledge everyday. but if you really want to stack the odds in your favor, and especially if you have more challenging aspects to your AFIB that might imply a need for more than just a simple straight forward PVI or PVAI ablation alone which seems to be your case, such as needing to address any non-PV triggers as well, then you simply cannot make a more objectively sound choice than Dr Natale at this point, IMHO. A view supported by not only a lot of stats, like the least re-connections as reported by Dr Avila from Mt Sinai at the recent Boston AFIB Symposium (in Florida this year) but shared by thousands of happy patients who made the same choice.
With over 9,000 ablations under his belt, more than anyone in the world and many going to him with the most challenging cases after failed first, second and even third ablations why take a chance with anyone else?
Just my 2 cents and good luck,
McHale
Good luck to you as you make your decision. Keep us posted.
D.
If you are planning to vacation in California to see Natale in SF, it would be an easy drive (less than 1 hour) to check out Dr Winkle - see http://siliconvalleycardiology.com/
and then if you are up to it why not drive down to San Diego to see Dr Narayan regarding firm ablation, check out
http://doctors.ucsd.edu/details/11636
while taking in one of the most scenic drives in the world along the Pacific Coast Highway Coast.
opsyn