Septal Ablation: Starting my journey at Mayo Clinic

Hi @johnwx,
I bet you are a wee bit anxious...thankfully you are in the best place in the world for this treatment.
I pray all goes well, that your recovery is swift, and you feel great soon.
This has been quite a journey you've been on!

@karukgirl Thank you. Yes, I have some anxiety. Strangely, my worry comes from my angiogram before the septal ablation. I have this fear there will be a blockage that will preclude the ablation. Worse yet, if there is one, somehow I will think I did something wrong in my life to cause it. Then I would need a stent and the ablation would be put off. As you can see, I am good at catastrophizing!

I learned a few things today about my procedure from the cardiology nurse who works with Dr. Mackram Eleid. I had the wrong spelling for his name in an earlier post. Darn autocorrect.

I was called by a cardiology nurse this evening to let me know to report at 10:30 am the next day to have a temporary pacemaker put in. I was told to ignore the text message text message with a later time. In the end, I got a text message for the original report time of 12:15 pm and a second text with the 10:30 am time. Make sure to respond to text messages to confirm you received them (usually a number, don’t just write CONFIRM).

Once the temporary pacemaker is in, I will be ready for my procedures when the doctor is ready.

Make sure to follow the directions in your Patient Guide once you get to the Mary Brigh building on the St. Mary’s campus, so you can get to desk 4D on the fourth floor. They said to make sure to take the east elevators.

I was told that there would be conscious sedation during the septal ablation, a bit lighter sedation than a colonoscopy. I will let you know how that goes.

@johnwx At this time as I write this you are most probably recovering and feeling thankful it's over! Dr Eleid was my first contact with the medical staff at Mayo, my first interview was with him by phone. I liked how he was so reassuring and answered our questions about the upcoming septal myectomy (Dr Schaff was the surgeon) in language easily understood by lay people. How are you feeling????

Hello @johnwx,
Just wondering how things went? Were they able to do the ablation after your angiogram?

I am resting comfortably at home after a successful procedure. I was very happy with the care I received. I will share more of my experience soon.

Now for some more information on my experience.

Note: you’ll give your first and last name plus birthdate every time you have any test or procedure, so just be ready when they ask 🙂

Expect that you will have delays in the start of your procedures. Emergency cases do come in to the catheterization lab (or whatever the new name is). I was prepped and awaited my first procedure for 3-4 hours. I was visited by several nurses and Dr. Eleid's fellow, who was very caring and helped put me at ease. Note that no family members or friends are allowed back with you, as there are only curtains and there is no privacy (you can overhear many a conversation).

For the septal ablation, be aware there are two procedures. First, they put in a temporary pacemaker. This took about one hour. The pacemaker was "attached" to my neck on the right side. Afterwards, I was taken into a a recovery room where my significant other was able to come back back to see me.

When Dr. Eleid was ready, they moved me into a different procedure room for the actual ablation. They start out doing an angiogram to check for any blockages in your heart arteries. After the angiogram, Dr. Eleid was kind enough to let me know there were no blockages to prevent the ablation. Blockages would need to be 70% or greater before they would stent them.

During the ablation, I was awake only part of the time--and what a time it was! This was when they put alcohol into the small arteries in my septum. As the alcohol went in, I definitely felt the pain of what it would be like to have a heart attack! Wow! They quickly gave me morphine to cover the pain. In the end, they put alcohol into two of my septum arteries.

Just for your information, they went in on both sides of my groin. One side was for Dr. Eleid and his fellow, the other for monitoring by another doctor and another fellow (?). My procedure seemed to take over two hours. I am not sure if that was because mine was different or difficult. Due to the earlier delays, I didn’t get to my hospital room on my floor until after 9 PM. Before settling in for the night, I had to have a chest x-ray. It seems that Mayo gives you an x-ray any time you are there--I have had so many that I have a free coupon for a future x-ray now 🙂

More later!

A follow-up to my experience with my septal ablation at St. Mary's Hospital.

I stayed in the hospital for two nights. The nurses on both shifts were excellent. Expect that you will have your blood pressure checked on a very regular basis, which includes during the night. Also, no going to the bathroom on your own. They track all the food you eat as well as amount of urination.

Also, you will have regular blood work. This is important as it determines whether you are allowed to leave the hospital to go home. They track your Troponin and Creatine Kinase levels. The Troponin levels rise rapidly at first, then the rise slows down, which tracks when the Creatine Kinase begin to fall. When the Troponin levels start to drop, then you are given the okay to go home. My procedure was on Thursday and I went home on that Saturday.

Also, each day a tech comes in to check that your temporary pacemaker on the side of your neck is functioning properly. The test is ramping up the pacemaker, which you will feel as your heart rate quickly increases. The odd feeling lasts for just a few moments and it is over.

A nurse practitioner was keeping tabs on my progress and made sure that nothing fell through the cracks. She oversaw my stay and ensured all the proper testing and removal of the temporary pacemaker (they just pull it out of your neck) was completed so I could go home on Saturday.

Once I had the go ahead to go home, I got to take a shower! Also, I was fitted with a remote ECG that I wore for 30 days (minus shower time). It has three pads, one of which is a sensor that sends the ECG data to Mayo Clinic via an Android smart phone. They give you a supply of pads so you replace them every three days. After 30 days, you send it back to Mayo via a prepaid Fedex package.

One last item. You can send a thank you to the nurses, staff, doctors, techs, and so forth. There is a link on the Mayo Clinic page.

Two Months Post Septal Ablation

Since the septal ablation in early November 2025, here is how I am feeling as of January 2026.

I am able to walk now with no trouble at all. I can walk up hills without stopping. I can walk for over a mile with no need to stop to let my heart catch up.

Being in Minnesota, I am able to even shovel snow without tiring out.

I am able to lift items now with much less effort.

Basically, it is an amazing change from where I was at, when I thought I would be unable to hike and do things outdoors like I used to. I feel like I am 10 years younger now (I am 66 yrs old). Itis the best I have felt in a long time.

It will still take time to build up my heart muscle to go longer distances, though this will come with regular exercise each day.

Also, I must watch that I am properly hydrated and have my eloctrolytes in balance. If I don't, I find out that my stamina is slightly limited, which I am able to tell about right away.

So, was it worth doing the septal ablation? Absolutely. It has made all the difference in the world to me. I am so grateful to the team at Mayo who fixed my heart.

If you have any questions or are considering a septal ablation, please feel free to contact me.

@johnwx Your series on your sepal ablation experience is super helpful for those who are anticipating a non-drug treatment for their HOCM and very interesting for the rest of us. You were fortunate your obstruction was in a place where an ablation would be effective. Dr Eleid had a phone visit with us when I began my Mayo journey; an ablation would be much less effective than a septal myectomy because of where my obstruction was located in the mitral valve area. This shows us all that our treatments are individualized to meet our specific needs. I am so glad that you are feeling better and that your life is returning to normal!