And frankly, they will bring me into the cath lab first to look for blockages. If anyone had experience there, I'd like to hear it.
Thanks in advance.
I used to do marathons, but was easing off in my old age. Had an ache in my lower left chest that didn’t go away. Went to the convenient care (it was Sunday). They didn’t figure it out, but I got a call the next day. They said I had pnemonia and gave me an antibiotic. Told me to see my regular doctor. I did that & he said we nee an ekg. When he got the ekg plot, he pointed to an irregularity and said that needs to not be there - you have atrial flutter. To get rid of it we will set you up with this ablation specialist. The specialist had me sign a pacemaker waver because he did not know how much of the natural function would be left after the ablation. I woke up with a pacemaker. They kept me overnight. My previous resting heart rate was about 40. The pacemaker was set at 60. It must be a standard procedure, but ever since (about 2017) I wake up early & can’t go back to sleep. If I don’t take a nap, in a few days I will have a headache. I have used up 1.5 batteries. The .5 was after a series of tests which had my ejection fraction on a decreasing curve and they put in a pacemaker/defibrillator. Other than the sleep thing, so far neither or defibrillator functions have been noticeable.
No longer do marathons, but my granddaughter & I did do a half in 2009 and I still go out for my morning run (age 81) although much slower than just a few years ago.
My cardiologist pretty much tells me to keep doing what I am doing.
All the best for your experience.
In 2015, I had a heart ablation for premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). I was having thousands of sharp-pain PVCs a day. Went to a wonderful electrophysicist in Kirkland, WA. Because the offending location was so near the His (pronounced “hiss”) bundle, he only had one mm of tolerance to avoid damaging it. So he used radiofrequency (RF) and cryogenic probes for the ablation. The advantage of the cryogenic probe is that - if something goes awry like the His bundle being damaged - the heart will recover. With the RF probe, it cannot recover, because the tissue is destroyed by the heat.
Anyway, near the end of the procedure, when the PVCs disappeared, I broke into tears of relief and joy. It was like getting my life back again.
Hope this helps and that your procedure does what it is supposed to do.
They're very expensive.
I had a cryogenic ablation in 2012 and it was a 100% success. Every year they hook me up to a Halter monitor and everything is good to go. I am now 71 and in fine shape.
Good luck and God Bless You.