Arrived at the hospital at 10:00 for prep. I opted for the French Wax instead of Bill's Brazilian, so Bill I still want to borrow your thong -g-.
The transesophageal echo was at noon. Pretty much under for that. I had to swallow this thick gel to lubricate and desensitize my esophagus. The results were negative, no clots in my heart. The ablation team ran over on their first procedure of the day, so they didn't start on me until 2:45. This was a concern for me since I didn't have catheter (my choice) and was wondering if I could last. Anyhow, what I didn't expect was two groin punctures, one of each side. I latter heard this was standard practice, If they needed the second one it would be needed right away, so they put everything in place.

The EP zapped a few spots and then I went into AFIB, so she went to the other side and zapped the offending area. The AFIB stopped immediately, continues on with her task So I guess going into AFIB on the table is a good thing.

In the recovery area about 6:30, I was pretty much out of it, cold and shivering. They gave me heated blankets. They had my legs in some sort of harness so I couldn't move them and upset the punctures. I was flat on my back and not allowed to sit up even a little bit. My back was killing me. I got up to the room a little after 8:00 pm. I had to stay in the harness flat on my back till midnight. Peeing in the urinal while flat on my back was just not working. By 10:00 pm I'm counting the minutes until I could get out of the harness and go pee (and relieve my aching back). At midnight off came the harness. I tried peeing in the urinal while sitting on the edge of the bed, that didn't work so the nurse and I tried to make it to the bathroom. I got about 5 feet before I passed out. Luckily, that 140 lb nurse was able to guide 240 lb Paul to the ground gently. Then I was able to pee while sitting on the edge of the bed AHHHH. They gave me a IV to bring my fluid up, by that point my BP was really low. Once the IV was in I felt better almost immediately.

I was able to get two 1 hour sleep session that night. I had a little pain on the left side of my heart, but that's gone now. When they took off the dressing a sizable portion of leg skin came off with the bandage. ouch!

I AM IN NSR! No driving till Friday, no gym for 10 days. They didn't give me a heart monitor that talks via the cell phone. They provided a ROZINN Event Recorder that can record up to 20 events per day, either on its own, or by me pressing a button. It has two leads. I don't know how it defines an event. I have had it for 3 hours and it has recorded 6 events. Each night I have to call in and transmit the data to the service. It uses an old style acoustic modem type transmission (ancient technology). I have to wear the event recorder for 30 days.

I feel good, I little weak, but the heart seems stable. Now for a nice massage. And I'm hungry.