Re: Ablation in the morning--done!

[Guest guest]

Wow, Lester, congratulations and thank you so much for sharing this with us.

It is beginning to ease my mind quite a bit listening to all of you who have

had ablations. At one time I would have been terrified to consider one; I

feel more confident now. Please stay in touch and let us know how it

goes...your

experience sounds very similar to Stef's except for the projectile

vomiting.

Lil

In a message dated 5/2/2006 3:47:37 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,

lrobert@... writes:

So that's my story so far. Sorry it's so long-winded, but all of these

details are the kinds of things I've been curious about myself. BTW, I've been

a

P.A. in plastic surgery for 25 years, so am fascinated by all the stuff these

guys can do without actually being inside the heart. Waiting 3 months to

assess the success of this procedure is like our telling our facelift patients

not to look in the mirror for 3 weeks. We can't help ourselves.

And thanks for all of your support. It made my decision to go through with

this alot easier.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/2/06 5:02:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time,

lrobert@... writes:

> sorry, I guess that was a bit misleading. I meant, from a surgeon's point

> of view (actually having one's hands inside the patient and directly

> visualizing what you're working on). These guys are removed by several layers

of

> mechanism and monitors. Like remote control surgery, but still not seeing the

> surface (like you can do with endoscopic surgery).I guess they must have been

> good at computer games.

Thanks for the clarification Lester ... though now I'm picturing Super

World in my atria! lol

Toni

CA

[Guest guest]

Well, I 'm back. As most of you probably suspected, I DID have to spend the

night. The same day discharge was only for the simple ablations, not for the

kind of thing WE have. First thing they did was to draw some current labs, which

showed my potassium a little low. I walked to the EP lab and climbed on the

table. It looked like something out of science fiction with computers and

screens everywhere. It took a while to get hooked up to all the monitors and

deviceIt was cold. They covered me with warm sheets, and I finally stopped

shaking. Then they gave me some joy juice. The gave me some IV benadryl, then

versed and fentanyl, I'm pretty sure. But I'm not sure of anything after that. I

didn't see Dr. Leon until I was half snowed. I was aware of him standing by by

right side under a big clear plastic " bubble " that covered my midsection. I

could hear him talking to the fellow, I presume, about positions and energy

levels. I was totally unaware of any physical sensations. They must have given

me more stuff, because the next thing I knew, Dr. Leon was leaning over me

telling me they were done. The moment I had been anticipating for a month. I

moved to a transport bed and moved into the hall. Dr. Leon and my wife walked

along with me. I remember him saying that they would keep me on my toprol and

taper it over the next month. That is the last I saw of Dr. Leon. This whole

process took about 4 hours.

The rest of the day I was pretty groggy, until the evening. By then I was wide

awake, and the highlight of my stay was when the nurses removed the 3 sheaths

that were still in me from my groin to my heart. The nurse said that they

usually premedicate with pain medicine. I didn't think it was going to hurt, so

I said go ahead. If anyone else is in this position, don't say " go ahead " . Get

the pain medicine. Because it hurt like ______. As well, from the pain and

pressure the nurse was applying, I went vagal and dropped my blood pressure and

got all flushed--sort of like Bush did with his pretzel. They had

atropine ready to give me to bring me out of the drop, but I came back OK. The

rest of the night I didn't sleep much. I had slept most of the day, and when I

lay back, my chest hurt. Deep breaths would bring a general soreness; a dull

ache. No shortness of breath or afib. I did notice quite a few PAC's though. I

mentioned the pain to the nurse, and she said I had tylenol, percocet and

morphine available on request. I took the tylenol. I didn't really want the

narcotic effect again. By about 5 am, the PAC's were bothering me and I started

short runs of what I felt was afib. The nurse got an order from whoever was on

call for 50mg of lopressor (metoprolol-short acting) and some more potassium

supplement. This seemed to settle things.

I finally saw the fellow (who's leaving Emory for Harvard this summer) who

explained the procedure. He said that they isolated all of the pulmonary veins

and then found activity on the other side and bottom of the left atrium. After

that they were no longer able to induce afib. The rest of my stay was involved

with anticoagulation. I was on a heparin drip from the time of the procedure

until I left, over 24 hours later. I was started on Coumadin the afternoon of

the procedure, and on Lovenox before leaving. I'll have to give myself the

lovenox for the next 3 days, and then stay on Coumadin for 4-6 weeks. I'll go

back in 3 days for an INR, then to see Dr. Leon in a month. He also order some

IV decadron (steroid) that he said would improve the chest soreness. He said it

was like pericarditis, and everyone got it. I got that about 8 hours ago, and

the soreness is significantly better.

The fellow and Dr. Leon said to expect runs of afib for awhile. They said that I

should make no judgements on the success of the procedure for 3 months. I also

have another MRI then.

So, now I wait. I am having little bursts of afib or sinus tachycardia (as seen

in the hospital), but they seem very benign, and seem to go away fairly quickly.

I'm having a few PAC's along as well. I think I'm going to take some potassium

supplements along with my vitamins to keep my level up. I'll check with the

Nurse Practitioner that I see in 3 days at the coumadin clinic on that. Forgot

to ask the doc about that, and he didn't bring it up.

So that's my story so far. Sorry it's so long-winded, but all of these details

are the kinds of things I've been curious about myself. BTW, I've been a P.A. in

plastic surgery for 25 years, so am fascinated by all the stuff these guys can

do without actually being inside the heart. Waiting 3 months to assess the

success of this procedure is like our telling our facelift patients not to look

in the mirror for 3 weeks. We can't help ourselves.

And thanks for all of your support. It made my decision to go through with this

alot easier.

Lester

[Guest guest]

Lil,

Thanks for your response. I must admit I was thinking about Stef's experience.

Guess I was lucky.

Lester

>

>Wow, Lester, congratulations and thank you so much for sharing this with  us.

>It is beginning to ease my mind quite a bit listening to all of you who have 

>had ablations. At one time I would have been terrified to consider one; I

>feel  more confident now. Please stay in touch and let us know how it

goes...your

> experience sounds very similar to Stef's except for the projectile 

>vomiting. 

>Lil

>

>

>

>Web Page - http://www.afibsupport.com

>List owner:  AFIBsupport-owner

>For help on how to use the group, including how to drive it via email,

>send a blank email to AFIBsupport-help

>

>Nothing in this message should be considered as medical advice, or should be

acted upon without consultation with one's physician.

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

so am fascinated by all the stuff these guys can

do without actually being inside the heart.

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

Lester ... I thought your blow-by-blow was fascinating and interesting. But how

did they do an ablation without going inside the heart? And if they didn't go

inside the heart, why did you have catheters in the groin? I'm confused.

Toni

CA

[Guest guest]

Toni,

sorry, I guess that was a bit misleading. I meant, from a surgeon's point of

view (actually having one's hands inside the patient and directly visualizing

what you're working on). These guys are removed by several layers of mechanism

and monitors. Like remote control surgery, but still not seeing the surface

(like you can do with endoscopic surgery).I guess they must have been good at

computer games.

Lester

Re: Ablation in the morning--done!

>

> so am fascinated by all the stuff these guys can

>do without actually being inside the heart.

>-------------------------

>Lester ... I thought your blow-by-blow was fascinating and interesting.  But

how did they do an ablation without going inside the heart?   And if they didn't

go inside the heart, why did you have catheters in the groin?  I'm confused.

>

>Toni

>CA

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Lester,

So glad it went well for you. I'm living in Columbia SC. I'm a PA in

Cardiology (how's that for a kick in the pants!!). I'm scheduled for ablation

on 8/2/06 with Dr Wharton at MUSC but I'm going for another opinion at Cleveland

Heart with Dr Natale first. If I like his success rate and hear that he has

fewer complications, I'll go there. I'm considering enrolling in the

cryoablation study instead of having the radioablation.

Anyway, I hadn't heard of the program at Crawford Long. Sounds as though you

received excellent care and treatment. I'm interested to know how they rank

against those institutions that have bigger numbers of ablations...how did you

get with them?

....

lrobert@... wrote:

Well, I 'm back. As most of you probably suspected, I DID have to spend the

night. The same day discharge was only for the simple ablations, not for the

kind of thing WE have. First thing they did was to draw some current labs, which

showed my potassium a little low. I walked to the EP lab and climbed on the

table. It looked like something out of science fiction with computers and

screens everywhere. It took a while to get hooked up to all the monitors and

deviceIt was cold. They covered me with warm sheets, and I finally stopped

shaking. Then they gave me some joy juice. The gave me some IV benadryl, then

versed and fentanyl, I'm pretty sure. But I'm not sure of anything after that. I

didn't see Dr. Leon until I was half snowed. I was aware of him standing by by

right side under a big clear plastic " bubble " that covered my midsection. I

could hear him talking to the fellow, I presume, about positions and energy

levels. I was totally unaware of any physical sensations.

They must have given me more stuff, because the next thing I knew, Dr. Leon was

leaning over me telling me they were done. The moment I had been anticipating

for a month. I moved to a transport bed and moved into the hall. Dr. Leon and my

wife walked along with me. I remember him saying that they would keep me on my

toprol and taper it over the next month. That is the last I saw of Dr. Leon.

This whole process took about 4 hours.

The rest of the day I was pretty groggy, until the evening. By then I was wide

awake, and the highlight of my stay was when the nurses removed the 3 sheaths

that were still in me from my groin to my heart. The nurse said that they

usually premedicate with pain medicine. I didn't think it was going to hurt, so

I said go ahead. If anyone else is in this position, don't say " go ahead " . Get

the pain medicine. Because it hurt like ______. As well, from the pain and

pressure the nurse was applying, I went vagal and dropped my blood pressure and

got all flushed--sort of like Bush did with his pretzel. They had

atropine ready to give me to bring me out of the drop, but I came back OK. The

rest of the night I didn't sleep much. I had slept most of the day, and when I

lay back, my chest hurt. Deep breaths would bring a general soreness; a dull

ache. No shortness of breath or afib. I did notice quite a few PAC's though. I

mentioned the pain to the nurse, and she said I had

tylenol, percocet and morphine available on request. I took the tylenol. I

didn't really want the narcotic effect again. By about 5 am, the PAC's were

bothering me and I started short runs of what I felt was afib. The nurse got an

order from whoever was on call for 50mg of lopressor (metoprolol-short acting)

and some more potassium supplement. This seemed to settle things.

I finally saw the fellow (who's leaving Emory for Harvard this summer) who

explained the procedure. He said that they isolated all of the pulmonary veins

and then found activity on the other side and bottom of the left atrium. After

that they were no longer able to induce afib. The rest of my stay was involved

with anticoagulation. I was on a heparin drip from the time of the procedure

until I left, over 24 hours later. I was started on Coumadin the afternoon of

the procedure, and on Lovenox before leaving. I'll have to give myself the

lovenox for the next 3 days, and then stay on Coumadin for 4-6 weeks. I'll go

back in 3 days for an INR, then to see Dr. Leon in a month. He also order some

IV decadron (steroid) that he said would improve the chest soreness. He said it

was like pericarditis, and everyone got it. I got that about 8 hours ago, and

the soreness is significantly better.

The fellow and Dr. Leon said to expect runs of afib for awhile. They said that I

should make no judgements on the success of the procedure for 3 months. I also

have another MRI then.

So, now I wait. I am having little bursts of afib or sinus tachycardia (as seen

in the hospital), but they seem very benign, and seem to go away fairly quickly.

I'm having a few PAC's along as well. I think I'm going to take some potassium

supplements along with my vitamins to keep my level up. I'll check with the

Nurse Practitioner that I see in 3 days at the coumadin clinic on that. Forgot

to ask the doc about that, and he didn't bring it up.

So that's my story so far. Sorry it's so long-winded, but all of these details

are the kinds of things I've been curious about myself. BTW, I've been a P.A. in

plastic surgery for 25 years, so am fascinated by all the stuff these guys can

do without actually being inside the heart. Waiting 3 months to assess the

success of this procedure is like our telling our facelift patients not to look

in the mirror for 3 weeks. We can't help ourselves.

And thanks for all of your support. It made my decision to go through with this

alot easier.

Lester

Web Page - http://www.afibsupport.com

List owner: AFIBsupport-owner

For help on how to use the group, including how to drive it via email,

send a blank email to AFIBsupport-help

Nothing in this message should be considered as medical advice, or should be

acted upon without consultation with one's physician.

[Guest guest]

Yea.. I'm reading the blow by blow and thinking to myself, " where's the part

where he pukes from the narcotics?? " ... I guess I just must be special that way!

Stef

cnetwork@... wrote:

Wow, Lester, congratulations and thank you so much for sharing this with us.

It is beginning to ease my mind quite a bit listening to all of you who have

had ablations. At one time I would have been terrified to consider one; I

feel more confident now. Please stay in touch and let us know how it

goes...your

experience sounds very similar to Stef's except for the projectile

vomiting.

Lil

\

[Guest guest]

This is most excellent Lester, and congratulations! I'm jealous by your post

operative well being too! May you be in NSR from here on out!

Stef

lrobert@... wrote:

Well, I 'm back. As most of you probably suspected, I DID have to spend the

night. The same day discharge was only for the simple ablations, not for the

kind of thing WE have. First thing they did was to draw some current labs, which

showed my potassium a little low. I walked to the EP lab and climbed on the

table. It looked like something out of science fiction with computers and

screens everywhere. It took a while to get hooked up to all the monitors and

deviceIt was cold. They covered me with warm sheets, and I finally stopped

shaking. Then they gave me some joy juice. The gave me some IV benadryl, then

versed and fentanyl, I'm pretty sure. But I'm not sure of anything after that. I

didn't see Dr. Leon until I was half snowed. I was aware of him standing by by

right side under a big clear plastic " bubble " that covered my midsection. I

could hear him talking to the fellow, I presume, about positions and energy

levels. I was totally unaware of any physical sensations.

They must have given me more stuff, because the next thing I knew, Dr. Leon was

leaning over me telling me they were done. The moment I had been anticipating

for a month. I moved to a transport bed and moved into the hall. Dr. Leon and my

wife walked along with me. I remember him saying that they would keep me on my

toprol and taper it over the next month. That is the last I saw of Dr. Leon.

This whole process took about 4 hours.

The rest of the day I was pretty groggy, until the evening. By then I was wide

awake, and the highlight of my stay was when the nurses removed the 3 sheaths

that were still in me from my groin to my heart. The nurse said that they

usually premedicate with pain medicine. I didn't think it was going to hurt, so

I said go ahead. If anyone else is in this position, don't say " go ahead " . Get

the pain medicine. Because it hurt like ______. As well, from the pain and

pressure the nurse was applying, I went vagal and dropped my blood pressure and

got all flushed--sort of like Bush did with his pretzel. They had

atropine ready to give me to bring me out of the drop, but I came back OK. The

rest of the night I didn't sleep much. I had slept most of the day, and when I

lay back, my chest hurt. Deep breaths would bring a general soreness; a dull

ache. No shortness of breath or afib. I did notice quite a few PAC's though. I

mentioned the pain to the nurse, and she said I had

tylenol, percocet and morphine available on request. I took the tylenol. I

didn't really want the narcotic effect again. By about 5 am, the PAC's were

bothering me and I started short runs of what I felt was afib. The nurse got an

order from whoever was on call for 50mg of lopressor (metoprolol-short acting)

and some more potassium supplement. This seemed to settle things.

I finally saw the fellow (who's leaving Emory for Harvard this summer) who

explained the procedure. He said that they isolated all of the pulmonary veins

and then found activity on the other side and bottom of the left atrium. After

that they were no longer able to induce afib. The rest of my stay was involved

with anticoagulation. I was on a heparin drip from the time of the procedure

until I left, over 24 hours later. I was started on Coumadin the afternoon of

the procedure, and on Lovenox before leaving. I'll have to give myself the

lovenox for the next 3 days, and then stay on Coumadin for 4-6 weeks. I'll go

back in 3 days for an INR, then to see Dr. Leon in a month. He also order some

IV decadron (steroid) that he said would improve the chest soreness. He said it

was like pericarditis, and everyone got it. I got that about 8 hours ago, and

the soreness is significantly better.

The fellow and Dr. Leon said to expect runs of afib for awhile. They said that I

should make no judgements on the success of the procedure for 3 months. I also

have another MRI then.

So, now I wait. I am having little bursts of afib or sinus tachycardia (as seen

in the hospital), but they seem very benign, and seem to go away fairly quickly.

I'm having a few PAC's along as well. I think I'm going to take some potassium

supplements along with my vitamins to keep my level up. I'll check with the

Nurse Practitioner that I see in 3 days at the coumadin clinic on that. Forgot

to ask the doc about that, and he didn't bring it up.

So that's my story so far. Sorry it's so long-winded, but all of these details

are the kinds of things I've been curious about myself. BTW, I've been a P.A. in

plastic surgery for 25 years, so am fascinated by all the stuff these guys can

do without actually being inside the heart. Waiting 3 months to assess the

success of this procedure is like our telling our facelift patients not to look

in the mirror for 3 weeks. We can't help ourselves.

And thanks for all of your support. It made my decision to go through with this

alot easier.

Lester

Web Page - http://www.afibsupport.com

List owner: AFIBsupport-owner

For help on how to use the group, including how to drive it via email,

send a blank email to AFIBsupport-help

Nothing in this message should be considered as medical advice, or should be

acted upon without consultation with one's physician.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Stef. I can't wait to stop by Starbucks to try the caffeine challenge.

I'll let you know.

Lester

Re: Ablation in the morning--done!

>

>This is most excellent Lester, and congratulations!  I'm jealous by your post

operative well being too!  May you be in NSR from here on out!

>  

>  Stef

> 

[Guest guest]

,

Are you considering the CryoCath [balloon Acrtic Front] trial at Mayo / Mass

General or CryoCor trial?

Anyone have any experience with either of these procedures / trials?

-Jim

_____

From: AFIBsupport [mailto:AFIBsupport ] On

Behalf Of Carroll

Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 9:09 PM

To: AFIBsupport

Subject: Re: Ablation in the morning--done!

Lester,

So glad it went well for you. I'm living in Columbia SC. I'm a PA in

Cardiology (how's that for a kick in the pants!!). I'm scheduled for

ablation on 8/2/06 with Dr Wharton at MUSC but I'm going for another opinion

at Cleveland Heart with Dr Natale first. If I like his success rate and hear

that he has fewer complications, I'll go there. I'm considering enrolling in

the cryoablation study instead of having the radioablation.

Anyway, I hadn't heard of the program at Crawford Long. Sounds as though

you received excellent care and treatment. I'm interested to know how they

rank against those institutions that have bigger numbers of ablations...how

did you get with them?

....

lrobert@... wrote:

Well, I 'm back. As most of you probably suspected, I DID have to spend

the night. The same day discharge was only for the simple ablations, not for

the kind of thing WE have. First thing they did was to draw some current

labs, which showed my potassium a little low. I walked to the EP lab and

climbed on the table. It looked like something out of science fiction with

computers and screens everywhere. It took a while to get hooked up to all

the monitors and deviceIt was cold. They covered me with warm sheets, and I

finally stopped shaking. Then they gave me some joy juice. The gave me some

IV benadryl, then versed and fentanyl, I'm pretty sure. But I'm not sure of

anything after that. I didn't see Dr. Leon until I was half snowed. I was

aware of him standing by by right side under a big clear plastic " bubble "

that covered my midsection. I could hear him talking to the fellow, I

presume, about positions and energy levels. I was totally unaware of any

physical sensations.

They must have given me more stuff, because the next thing I knew, Dr. Leon

was leaning over me telling me they were done. The moment I had been

anticipating for a month. I moved to a transport bed and moved into the

hall. Dr. Leon and my wife walked along with me. I remember him saying that

they would keep me on my toprol and taper it over the next month. That is

the last I saw of Dr. Leon. This whole process took about 4 hours.

The rest of the day I was pretty groggy, until the evening. By then I was

wide awake, and the highlight of my stay was when the nurses removed the 3

sheaths that were still in me from my groin to my heart. The nurse said that

they usually premedicate with pain medicine. I didn't think it was going to

hurt, so I said go ahead. If anyone else is in this position, don't say " go

ahead " . Get the pain medicine. Because it hurt like ______. As well, from

the pain and pressure the nurse was applying, I went vagal and dropped my

blood pressure and got all flushed--sort of like Bush did with his

pretzel. They had atropine ready to give me to bring me out of the drop, but

I came back OK. The rest of the night I didn't sleep much. I had slept most

of the day, and when I lay back, my chest hurt. Deep breaths would bring a

general soreness; a dull ache. No shortness of breath or afib. I did notice

quite a few PAC's though. I mentioned the pain to the nurse, and she said I

had

tylenol, percocet and morphine available on request. I took the tylenol. I

didn't really want the narcotic effect again. By about 5 am, the PAC's were

bothering me and I started short runs of what I felt was afib. The nurse got

an order from whoever was on call for 50mg of lopressor (metoprolol-short

acting) and some more potassium supplement. This seemed to settle things.

I finally saw the fellow (who's leaving Emory for Harvard this summer) who

explained the procedure. He said that they isolated all of the pulmonary

veins and then found activity on the other side and bottom of the left

atrium. After that they were no longer able to induce afib. The rest of my

stay was involved with anticoagulation. I was on a heparin drip from the

time of the procedure until I left, over 24 hours later. I was started on

Coumadin the afternoon of the procedure, and on Lovenox before leaving. I'll

have to give myself the lovenox for the next 3 days, and then stay on

Coumadin for 4-6 weeks. I'll go back in 3 days for an INR, then to see Dr.

Leon in a month. He also order some IV decadron (steroid) that he said would

improve the chest soreness. He said it was like pericarditis, and everyone

got it. I got that about 8 hours ago, and the soreness is significantly

better.

The fellow and Dr. Leon said to expect runs of afib for awhile. They said

that I should make no judgements on the success of the procedure for 3

months. I also have another MRI then.

So, now I wait. I am having little bursts of afib or sinus tachycardia (as

seen in the hospital), but they seem very benign, and seem to go away fairly

quickly. I'm having a few PAC's along as well. I think I'm going to take

some potassium supplements along with my vitamins to keep my level up. I'll

check with the Nurse Practitioner that I see in 3 days at the coumadin

clinic on that. Forgot to ask the doc about that, and he didn't bring it up.

So that's my story so far. Sorry it's so long-winded, but all of these

details are the kinds of things I've been curious about myself. BTW, I've

been a P.A. in plastic surgery for 25 years, so am fascinated by all the

stuff these guys can do without actually being inside the heart. Waiting 3

months to assess the success of this procedure is like our telling our

facelift patients not to look in the mirror for 3 weeks. We can't help

ourselves.

And thanks for all of your support. It made my decision to go through with

this alot easier.

Lester

Web Page - http://www.afibsupport.com

List owner: AFIBsupport-owner

For help on how to use the group, including how to drive it via email,

send a blank email to AFIBsupport-help

Nothing in this message should be considered as medical advice, or should be

acted upon without consultation with one's physician.

[Guest guest]

Welcome home Lester. Your on your way. You'll do great.

Rich O

[Guest guest]

Hey Rich,

Glad you're there. You were my inspiration to ask for this. It's day 3 and I'm

starting to feel optimistic. Don't want to get ahead of myself, but just spent 2

hours helping my daughter with a school project (building an egg launcher) and

feel great. I couldn't have done it last week without going into afib. So far so

good.

Thanks again.

Lester

Re: Ablation in the morning--done!

>

>Welcome home Lester. Your on your way. You'll do great.

>Rich O

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>

> ,

>

>

>

> Are you considering the CryoCath [balloon Acrtic Front] trial at

Mayo / Mass

> General or CryoCor trial?

>

>

>

> Anyone have any experience with either of these procedures / trials?

>

>

>

> -Jim

>

>

>

Hi Jim,

I had a CryoCor ablation last October..so far things are great..

I've had 2 short AFIB episodes since the ablation, one about a week

after that lasted about 10-15 minutes and a 3 hour run at about 7

weeks out. Nothing since.

I'm off the flecanide, but continuing the diltiazem for about 4 more

weeks...then I'm off everything... Keeping the fingers crossed.

Bob

[Guest guest]

I don't know anything about Mass....I was going for cryoablation at Cleveland

Heart...

...

w6jcw w6jcw@...> wrote:

>

> ,

>

>

>

> Are you considering the CryoCath [balloon Acrtic Front] trial at

Mayo / Mass

> General or CryoCor trial?

>

>

>

> Anyone have any experience with either of these procedures / trials?

>

>

>

> -Jim

>

>

>

Hi Jim,

I had a CryoCor ablation last October..so far things are great..

I've had 2 short AFIB episodes since the ablation, one about a week

after that lasted about 10-15 minutes and a 3 hour run at about 7

weeks out. Nothing since.

I'm off the flecanide, but continuing the diltiazem for about 4 more

weeks...then I'm off everything... Keeping the fingers crossed.

Bob

Web Page - http://www.afibsupport.com

List owner: AFIBsupport-owner

For help on how to use the group, including how to drive it via email,

send a blank email to AFIBsupport-help

Nothing in this message should be considered as medical advice, or should be

acted upon without consultation with one's physician.

[Guest guest]

Jim - I was in the CryoCor trial at s Hopkins. I unfortunately drew the

" medicine " card so my trial was going to be three months of medication, and

AFTER that three month period I would have had to have 3 more documented cases

of afib and then I could cross over to the ablation side of the trial. I

wanted to wait it out, but after starting the trial, my medication failed

miserably and I was in and out of the ER every few days, so switched to having a

regular RF ablation.

I did not like the fact that despite being on medication (and documented) for

some 5 years didn't count toward the trial.. as a scientist I understand why,

but as a patient I had little sympathy. I also didn't like the fact that

after the three months I had to have three MORE events.. that didn't seem very

healthy for my heart - especially when you never know if your next event is the

one from which you can't convert...

You also have to be a pretty perfect candidate... you have to have failed 2

but not 3 medications, and you have to still be paroxsysmal (I barely squeezed

in on that one), and your atrium cannot be larger than X, and your refraction

rate has to be higher than Z. You can not have any other major health

problems, and can not have had any heart surgery, or heart attacks.

For a normal healthy (other than afib) person, it wasn't too difficult to

qualify, but you do have to qualify and then you have to promise that you will

follow whatever way you are randomly choosen for.. whether medication or

procedure.

I was also told that the cure rate was substantially lower than the RF, and

that the surgery time was longer. My RF PVI was over 6 hours.. not sure how

much longer a Cryo could have been!

Stef

> General or CryoCor trial?

>

>

>

> Anyone have any experience with either of these procedures / trials?

>

>

>

> -Jim

>

[Guest guest]

I was told the same thing - that the CryoCor catheter is not as effective as

the RF energy source with the same ablation techniques [it's been available

in Europe for several years now, and they are not " big " fans of it] Sounds

like you made the right choice under the circumstance.

-Jim

_____

From: AFIBsupport [mailto:AFIBsupport ] On

Behalf Of Quarter Acre Orchids

Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 4:35 PM

To: AFIBsupport

Subject: Re: Re: Ablation in the morning--done!

Jim - I was in the CryoCor trial at s Hopkins. I unfortunately drew

the " medicine " card so my trial was going to be three months of medication,

and AFTER that three month period I would have had to have 3 more documented

cases of afib and then I could cross over to the ablation side of the trial.

I wanted to wait it out, but after starting the trial, my medication failed

miserably and I was in and out of the ER every few days, so switched to

having a regular RF ablation.

I did not like the fact that despite being on medication (and documented)

for some 5 years didn't count toward the trial.. as a scientist I understand

why, but as a patient I had little sympathy. I also didn't like the fact

that after the three months I had to have three MORE events.. that didn't

seem very healthy for my heart - especially when you never know if your next

event is the one from which you can't convert...

You also have to be a pretty perfect candidate... you have to have failed

2 but not 3 medications, and you have to still be paroxsysmal (I barely

squeezed in on that one), and your atrium cannot be larger than X, and your

refraction rate has to be higher than Z. You can not have any other major

health problems, and can not have had any heart surgery, or heart attacks.

For a normal healthy (other than afib) person, it wasn't too difficult to

qualify, but you do have to qualify and then you have to promise that you

will follow whatever way you are randomly choosen for.. whether medication

or procedure.

I was also told that the cure rate was substantially lower than the RF,

and that the surgery time was longer. My RF PVI was over 6 hours.. not sure

how much longer a Cryo could have been!

Stef

> General or CryoCor trial?

>

>

>

> Anyone have any experience with either of these procedures / trials?

>

>

>

> -Jim

>