next step for joey in controlling afib; pls keep fingers crossed!

[Joe718]

Dear Marguerite,

Did the magnesium baths work on the afib? And in your opinion, it is worth seeing an acupuncturist PRIOR to AVR?

How do you feel? I'm getting ready to go in for surgery. Isolated AVR , bi-cuspid since birth. Is there ever a situation whereby someone comes out of this endeavor better then when they went in? I would like to believe that I will survive this surgery, have a good operation, without complications, get a new valve that will replace the defective one I have, and be able to kick ass again on a tennis court, free of any post-op symptoms, no afib, and no meds. Is this even possible?

My best to you,

Joseph,

 

[Jeanie]

You betcha it is possible! I am responding to the ' Is there ever a situation whereby someone comes out of this endeavor better then when they went in? I would like to believe that I will survive this surgery, have a good operation, without complications, get a new valve that will replace the defective one I have, and be able to kick ass again on a tennis court, free of any post-op symptoms, no afib, and no meds. Is this even possible?'

I had a previously diagnosed aortic stenosis that became rapidly worse. By the time I had surgery, my level of stenosis was beyond severe, into critical and I had developed CHF also. I had a wonderful surgeon, received a mechanical aortic valve, and I feel as if the clock has been turned back 20 years, which is saying a lot since I am 58 now. I did have some A flutter and Fib, which resulted in a cardioversion a few weeks post op, but now I am 4 months post op and I am no longer needing to take Amiodarone or Metroprolol, just baby aspirin and Coumadin/warfarin. As soon as I can apportion the (very limited funds I have now) funds to get a new riding helmet I will be back to riding horses. I am already almost done with my cardiac rehab, increasing exercise intensity continuously. My cardiovascular system works great! My biggest problem now is rebuilding some muscle.

 

[sylviayasgur]

ok, well here's the kicker...
joey's been off amiodarone for about 3 months now, off the multaq (during which he had intermittent afib) for about a week now, going into the hospital monday for regulation as they start him on tikosyn.
he has not had any episodes of afib since off the multaq.
is this weird or what???
i wonder if all those years he was on amiodarone and tried to wean himself off, if he had tolerated some afib, would they have dissapeared eventually?
he's still going in on monday. atleast he'll be on preventative meds for the afib.
strange how things like this happen when you least expect them to.
be well all!

 

[Adrienne]

I'll keep my fingers crossed that the good luck continues.

 

[bvdr]

Hi Sylvia, you and Joey will be in my thoughts and prayers this week. It doesn't seem possible but it has been about 7 years now that I've been dealing with a-fib. Like Joey, I hate it when I'm in atrial fib. I hope all goes well with him with the Tikosyn. About Joey being out of a-fib now....isn't that just the way it goes sometimes!

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi all,
joey's been in the hospital since monday night being monitored on tikosyn. he is bored and will finally be released tomorrow morning. all has been going well.
the first night the nurse got a little freaked out, because joey's resting pulse is about 47 (all his exercise pays off). so when his pulse went down even lower while sleeping, she rushed into the room with a defibrillator and insisted on leaving it there this whole stay.
ofcourse, he was fine.
seems like the tikosyn is fine for now and hopefully it will do the trick in the long term.
will keep you posted. so far so good.
thanks for all your support and well wishes,
sylvia

 

[Nancy]

Sounds good. I pray that this will be the answer for Joey!

 

[Ross]

Wow, he's special. A Defibrillator all his own. Bet that makes him feel real comfortable. :biggrin2:

 

[Daren]

Sylvia, Great news! Am very happy that things are going well for Joey. Will continue to Pray for both of you. Am also glad to hear that Joeys getting out of the Hospital, those places just freak me out!...Daren

 

[hensylee]

that's good news. I will say prayers that this is the answer. That amio is just , well, we all know about it. Hope he doesn't have to use it again. Best to y'all.

 

[sylviayasgur]

update..... the tikosyn is working, but not 100% effective. joey is looking into ablation to rid him of all these afib nuissances.
although they are sporadic and don't last more than a few hours, they are still very disturbing and he's very attune to when he has them.
does anyone know of EP's in new york city you might recommend for this procedure?
joey is going to meet with a dr. mehta at mt. sinai hospital (also the name dr.dukapati was given to him). there is another name of someone at st. francis hospital on long island, but joey prefers to go to nyc.
again, cross those fingers!!!
will keep you up to date as we meet with the first doc next week.
be well all,
sylvia

 

[Bina]

Arrhythmias are indeed very disturbing....will cross my fingers, good luck.

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Keeping everything crossed xxxx

 

[Bryan B]

Hi Sylvia,

I had a pretty bad bout of A-Flutter this spring (resting heart rate around 140bpm). I was admitted and they were going to do a cardioversion but they found a blood clot in my left atrium and had to abort the procedure. They put me on Coumadin and readmitted me 6 weeks later, but this time they decided to do a catheter ablation. I was wheeled into the cath lab with my heart beating like a drum and wheeled out at 75bpm (which is normal for me). I had the procedure on July 1st of this year and have had no episodes of A-Flutter since. I just wanted to give you some encouraging words that catheter ablation helped me tremendously. I wish you and Joey the best and hopefully his heart will be purring like a kitten before Christmas.

--------------------

Aortic root measured 5.4cm at top end of root on 11/9/10
Surgical Consult 11/19/10 pretty obvious he said I need surgery
Still waiting on a decision from SS disability so I can get financial help
Newest symptom periodic chest pain
This is my signature within a signature

 

[sylviayasgur]

met with dr. mehta yesterday and joey is aiming to have him do the ablation around the third week in jan. 2011. i am urging him to get another opinion, which he has finally agreed to.
neither of us realized that this procedure is done under full general anesthesia and takes 4-6 hours in total.
dr. mehta seemed to be optimistic and did say that it is only 70% effective and joey may need a second go around. when i asked about complications and the possibility of ending up with a pacemaker, he didn't seem concerned and seemed confident that this would not be an issue (due to the way he does the procedure now).
in the meantime, hope you all have a wonderful, happy and healthy holiday season.
thanks for all your help!

 

[Bryan B]

met with dr. mehta yesterday and joey is aiming to have him do the ablation around the third week in jan. 2011. i am urging him to get another opinion, which he has finally agreed to.
neither of us realized that this procedure is done under full general anesthesia and takes 4-6 hours in total.
dr. mehta seemed to be optimistic and did say that it is only 70% effective and joey may need a second go around. when i asked about complications and the possibility of ending up with a pacemaker, he didn't seem concerned and seemed confident that this would not be an issue (due to the way he does the procedure now).

in the meantime, hope you all have a wonderful, happy and healthy holiday season.
thanks for all your help!

Sylvia,

My experience was different and my cardiologists gave me different odds. I wasn't under general anesthesia in the sense that it was given by mask. I was out, but not out like general surgery out if that makes any sense. I think it was like a twilight sedative but they boosted it to night time.

Also my cardiologists said that they are having long-term success rates of about 90%. They were going to do a cardioversion on me at first but then decided the catheter ablation because the freedom from recurrence was much better with ablation.

My procedure took 2 hours and then I had to lay perfectly still for around 4-6 hours. Not so much for the groin (wasn't as bad as a cardiac cath) but for the heart that had just been lasered.

I'm sure it's different with different doctors, hospitals, and individuals but this was my experience with catheter ablation.

Take care,

Bryan

 

[sylviayasgur]

thanks for that, bryan. when dr. mehta (mt. sinai med, nyc) explained the procedure to us, he said that they have a map of all the nodes which they super-impose on a CT of joey's heart. between all the prep work (anesthesia, setting up the multiple caths- to monitor temp, one in the esophageal area also, etc, must be about 4 of them), and the mapping, it takes that long for them.
i had initially thought it would be as you described yours, but as you said, every dr does it differently.
i'll be interested to hear what another dr in ny says as well.
thanks for your help and will keep you up to date!
be well and enjoy the holidays!
sylvia

 

[kfay]

Sylvia, An ablation does not have to be done under general. That may be that Drs. preference, but I had about 15 hours worth of ablation time last year, most of it completely drug free. They did have me sign papers giving permission for general "just in case", thankfully, the "just in case" didn't happen. He would probably be much more comfortable if he were out, but if you guys don't want that, they can easily do it with twilight. Just warn him he will feel the "burns" in his heart and some can be painful (I don't know with twilight how aware he would be of these because again, I was wide awake and basically drug free until I couldn't take it anymore, and then they gave me fentenyl which took care of the pain). I wish him the best of luck!


Kim

 

[Bryan B]

thanks for that, bryan. when dr. mehta (mt. sinai med, nyc) explained the procedure to us, he said that they have a map of all the nodes which they super-impose on a CT of joey's heart. between all the prep work (anesthesia, setting up the multiple caths- to monitor temp, one in the esophageal area also, etc, must be about 4 of them), and the mapping, it takes that long for them.
i had initially thought it would be as you described yours, but as you said, every dr does it differently.
i'll be interested to hear what another dr in ny says as well.
thanks for your help and will keep you up to date!


be well and enjoy the holidays!
sylvia

Sylvia,

You are right in that I didn't think about the different issues the EP cardios had to work on. Mine might have been a much less complex mapping procedure so that would account for the shorter period of time. And it also makes sense that if they are expecting it to take 4-6 hours that they might use a "light" general anesthesia like propofol instead of twilight medications. Regardless I hope it is successful and it gives Joey the relief he needs.

 

[ks1490]

Hi Sylvia - best of luck to you and Joey. Multaq worked for me after I sought to get off of amiodarone but as we know everyone's body chemistry is different...