I caution that I have no training whatsoever in the medical field, so please just take what I say with some pause: My reading about the DOACs is that they function best when taken routinely, and do best for patients with a CHA2DS2-VASc score of about 2 and higher who have a risk for thrombosis. That is to say, they should be present in your blood serum when your AF ever recurs, not after. The risk of stroke rises immediately upon AF, and persists in many patients for up to six months later. Or, so the readings I have looked at suggest. As you might be aware, the real culprit is likely to be 'stale' blood pooling in the left atrial appendage (LAA), which is why the Watchman was invented. The pooling could begin as soon as your left atrium starts fibrillating.
I only offer this as a talking point with your electrophysiologist next time you see him/her. Will he recommend you go off apixaban as soon as you are deemed free of AF, and is that going to be after a formal rhythm assessment, such as a Holter monitor, at the end of the blanking period, or sooner? For most, it is at the six month mark. Or, if a Watchman is implanted, you get a TEE at that point, six months, and if it is deemed to be sealed, no leakage from inside the LAA, then you have eliminated all risk for that type of clots.
Again, the furthest thing from an expert am I, but you might feel better posing the question to your EP about his/here rationale.