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.
I did it! My catheter radiofrequency ablation was performed by an outstanding team of health care professionals on July 14th at OSU's Ross Heart Hospital. Procedure time was well under 4 hours, and ablation was largely limited to the traditional circumferential PV lesion set. My left sided inferior vena cava posed little problem for right atrial access and transseptal puncture to the left atrium.
About 7 hours after the procedure, I had about 30 seconds of flutter, and a nice little panic attack, but otherwise, it's been all normal sinus rhythm the past 2 1/2 days.
The most painful part of the whole procedure day for me was actually the morphine injection just before removal of the femoral sheaths. The morphine was pushed in much too fast and it really rattled my body. Needless to say, I didn't feel a thing when the sheaths were removed. At this particular center, protamine is not often used, in which case the femoral sheaths can be removed when the patient is still under general anesthesia on the cath lab table. In my case, heparin was allowed to clear naturally until ACT dropped below 200, which took about two hours, and then the sheaths were removed.
I also had some chest pain, mix of burning and pressure, perhaps more than most, but this was easily treated with IV toradol and then high dose ibuprofen upon discharge.
I'll be on warfarin for at least the next 3 months, but I get to bridge from sotalol to metoprolol in 30 days. Post ablation care also includes daily protonix for a month to keep the esophagus clear of reflux. Interestingly, my ejection fraction was just 40% following the procedure, so I am also on low dose lisinopril to help allow the ejection fraction to recover. It is unclear to me whether the low EF is from chronic paroxysmal a-fib or from acute effects of the ablation. If the former, it is a good thing I got this ablation done early in life. Either way, hopefully I'm back up to 60-65% ejection fraction in 3 months. Thoughts?
One final comment: my gut must not tolerate general anesthesia well. Bloating, dystension, belching. Gut motility is just barely starting again.
In sum, despite some of the details above, I'm pretty excited about today and looking forward to a clean bill of health in 3 months. Fingers crossed!! Modern medicine and its practitioners are pretty spectacular.
Sean
About 7 hours after the procedure, I had about 30 seconds of flutter, and a nice little panic attack, but otherwise, it's been all normal sinus rhythm the past 2 1/2 days.
The most painful part of the whole procedure day for me was actually the morphine injection just before removal of the femoral sheaths. The morphine was pushed in much too fast and it really rattled my body. Needless to say, I didn't feel a thing when the sheaths were removed. At this particular center, protamine is not often used, in which case the femoral sheaths can be removed when the patient is still under general anesthesia on the cath lab table. In my case, heparin was allowed to clear naturally until ACT dropped below 200, which took about two hours, and then the sheaths were removed.
I also had some chest pain, mix of burning and pressure, perhaps more than most, but this was easily treated with IV toradol and then high dose ibuprofen upon discharge.
I'll be on warfarin for at least the next 3 months, but I get to bridge from sotalol to metoprolol in 30 days. Post ablation care also includes daily protonix for a month to keep the esophagus clear of reflux. Interestingly, my ejection fraction was just 40% following the procedure, so I am also on low dose lisinopril to help allow the ejection fraction to recover. It is unclear to me whether the low EF is from chronic paroxysmal a-fib or from acute effects of the ablation. If the former, it is a good thing I got this ablation done early in life. Either way, hopefully I'm back up to 60-65% ejection fraction in 3 months. Thoughts?
One final comment: my gut must not tolerate general anesthesia well. Bloating, dystension, belching. Gut motility is just barely starting again.
In sum, despite some of the details above, I'm pretty excited about today and looking forward to a clean bill of health in 3 months. Fingers crossed!! Modern medicine and its practitioners are pretty spectacular.
Sean
Thanks for your story and updates. I am planning to have my first ablation at OSU Ross Hospital in a little over a month. How are you doing now? Do you have any advice for me? I am a bit nervous as you would expect. I was shocked to hear they remove the sheaths after you are awake. Is that always the case there? Last question... did you abstain from alcohol completely during the blanking period?
Thanks very much
Steve
Pre Op they will shave your entire chest and stomach which I wasnt expecting but no big deal.
So for me it was a pain free experiemce. I dont drink alcohol anyways so Im not really sure of the restrictions post ablation. I think all the things you werent supposed to do post procedure were only for a couple weeks.