After 2-1/2 years of taking statins (5 all together) & having Lot's of Side Effects to Each & Every One, my Cardiologist finally suggested I Simply STOP taking statins & see a Cardiac Surgeon in their Practice. So I did. He told me I NEED to have a Watchman surgery, explained what it is, & went to his computer to schedule it. I Told Him, "STOP". Tell Me More about the Procedure-A to Z, & Why the Watchman is So Critical. "1st you go to Radiology & have a 3D cta, then we schedule the procedure." I told him "I'll have the 3D, cta, THEN I'LL DECIDE If I'll have Surgery" (My thought: No Surgeries 'till I get a 2nd Opinion). The Lab Tech. injected a Dye during the CTA, & told me "drink lots of water, it'll flush out of your system in 8-12 hr.s". (WRONG). After-effects lasted 5 Full Days , the 1st 2 days I was 1/2 here & 1/2 spaced-out! the next 2 days I couldn't function out of bed for more than 90 min. - 2 hr.'s, then HAD to go back to bed. That CTA took 5 days to flush Out Of My System! Then there were Long-Range side effects that come & go in 6 week cycles. On a Mayo Clinic web site my side effects are documented, & although not common, Can Happen. Need I say I haven't been back to the Cardiac Surgeon? My daughter took me to a Cardiologist in St. Louis. He went thru my file, looked everything over, & told us 'In His Opinion Just As Is (sitting in his exam-room) from ALL the tests in my file, my chances of having a stroke are between .07% & .04%. If I choose to Have a Watchman Surgery it would lower my chances of a Stroke to .05% to .03%, so if I'd Like to have a Surgical Procedure (& the risks associated), I would gain .02%! Think about it & Let Me Know!' (we both thought about it for less than 2 minutes) & told him "If it lowers the risk a Whole .02%, think we'll Take A Pass." He invited us back in 1 year unless something happens before, but he said 99% of the Patients he sees would KILL for a diagnosis like he just gave me!" (Why Am I not surprised? I Felt like he'd taken a 2 Ton Weight off my mind!)