Any Info helps

my ablation was for atrial Flutter

Hi Guys, I had my ablation yesterday. read on if you want to know exactly how it went.

I HAVE COPIED AND PASTED BELOW FROM ANOTHER BLOG - Re AF

I reported the the Royal Sussex County Hospital at just after 7am and sat in the waiting room along with 4 other people who were waiting for varioud heart treatments. The unit only has 12 beds and 8 of these were being used for A & E admissions. Fortunately one gentleman had come a day early and had to come back today, so there were enough beds for all us otherwise we may have been sent home as often happens.

Shotly after 7.30 am I was called in and taken to my bed where I had to strip completely and put on one of those sexy hospital gowns, unfortunately mine had no back ties LOL.

Wthin a short while 2 nurses came and did my Blood pressure, ECG, put in a canular and did my INR and finally asked the usual, Height, Weight, Meddications, and what warfarin I was taking.

A few minutes later my cardiologist surgeon introduced himself to me, what a charming gentleman, he first asked what do I know about what was going to happen today and my son, before I could speak said everything as he really looked in to it on the internet.  So the Cardiologist asked me to explain exactly what was going to happen and I did, he then asked If I know the risks and again I explained them all to him.

I asked a question, as I had no symptoms at all, If i did not have the Ablation, but continued with either warfarin or another anti cogagalant would I be okay, he said yes, but as an ablation for atril Flutter is generally verry successful and I should have it, so I signed the consent form.

I also said that I don't want a sedative as I have a high pain threshold and have had several ops  and procedures without any. He agreed but said that their was a lot of pain when doing the burning and if while he was doing , if I needed it they would administer it.

Just before 10am I was walked up to the surgicll room where they do the procedure, I layed on a quite narrow table / bed with a tv monitor directly above my head which I found useful as being unable to scratch my nose I lifted my head up a couple of inches and rubed it against the monitor.

You cannot move your arms which are by your sides and of course you are wired up all over the place. My surgeon explained all along the way what he was going to do. There was also 2 radiographers in the room with a screen between them and me and also a nurse ready to give me a pain injection or any othe drug if required,

So off we go a pain killer spray ? was put on my groin which was previousy shaved as I am a hairy bugger, then shortly afterwards a tube was inserted in my groin which was a little uncomfortable but not to bad and the the catheter was insertd in the tube and pushed into my heart, I really did not feel this, I then had 3 lot's of burning all at 60 watts, the first one was fine and quite bearable for me, the second one was on a scale up to 10 was 11, thankfully it only lasted for a short while as I was very close to saying give me a pain killer.

I was told straight away that my heart was back in sinus rhythm, we then waited another 10 minutes to check that it stayed their which it did, the whole procedure took just over 1 hour.

For Information Only - An ablation for Atrial Fib takes 4 hours and in our hospital in Brighton, they give you a general anaesthetic because it is impossible to stay perfectly still for all that time.

Next - i was wheeled back to my bed where I had to lay still flat for one hour, during this time I was wired up to a monitor taking Blood pressure, pulse rate and an ECG, they also check yout feet and legs for Deep Vein Thrombosis, after an hour I was allowed to sit up and had tea and biscuts and then a very nice packed lunch.

As all was well and I did not have a bleed I was given an instruction and information sheet of what to do if you do have a bleed or anything else and allowed home at 2.45pm, so in total I was there 7 1/4 hours.

I can only praise the treatment that I received from the person who got my lunch to the cardiologist, nothing was to much.

Finally I was very doubtfull about having the procedure, but can thoroughly reccomend it to anyone with Atrial Flutter, but would suggest that most people have a sedation, my theory No pain No gain.

Regards Ken.

Hi Guys,

Firstly it is 30 hours since I had the ablation, I have not had anything unusual happen to me and I feel the same as I did beforhand, my groin is a little bit sore but that is to be expected.

I have been told to carry on taking the warfarin and continue having my INR taken at our local boots for about 2 months when I see my Cardiologist.

As I am now in sinus rhythm and all the cells that were causing the problem have been destroyed I should be fine and cured and will not have to take any more warfarin.

I will keep you all informed, as a point of interest I was told that if one has atrial flutter and does not have the procedure it can turn to atrial fib which is considered more serious.

Good luck everyone, I hope you all get better very soon.

Regards Ken.