Anyone had surgery for pvc’s?

@wcuro thank you. I travel to Mayo Rochester for the lymphoma tx, but this doc is only 90 miles from my home. Im in AR on the AR/MO border. the travel to Rochester takes a toll. it's a full day by vehicle or plane. This Doc is Dr. Shang-Chiun Lee at Mercy Springfield. He did his internship, residency, & work 7-1/2 years at Mayo. His wife got tired of the cold or he would still be there. He stated the risk because of the location. He seems like he is not ego driven at all and wouldn't take offense at being asked about how many procedures. My shortness of breath episodes are increasing and the fatigue is tough. my lymphoma #'s are great with tx via Rituxan decreasing from 8-10/yr to once a year over the last 9 years. The Addison's makes it difficult to ascertain cause of fatigue. thanks for your feedback, much appreciated.

@jc76 i get the feelingg that stress worsens it, but with dead or non functioning adrenal glands my body shouldn't be able to produce adrenaline. when young i have had episodes of adrenaline rushes in combat where the entire world seemed to go into slow motion.....hard to explain. i guess you don't need adrenaline for stress.

i welcome returning to exercising as I have been an athlete my entire life. i don't think i will ever try to lift like i did until 65.

My thanks for the info.....much appreciated

@anniemoe77
Not sure what type ablation I had. It was on the LV. I can find out and let you know. The procedure was to do LV ablation on a specific area, try to duplicate tachycardia cause, and look (map) the other two areas that had PVCs coming from.

My experience on this procedure prior to, during , and post was excellent. And the best it could be based on needing to have it done. I felt very relaxed as everyone was professional and thorough. I knew I was in good hands.

I had a virtual appointment one week prior to procedure. The specialist went over everything with of what to do, not do, what medications to stop (day), supplements to stop. Then the procedure P.A. put in on Mayo Patient Portal so I could print off.

The day prior to procedure I had blood test, ECG, and met in person with procedure EP (electrophysiologist). P.A. went over everything again with me then listened to my heart and lungs.

Day of procedure: Had to be there at 6:30 a.m. I was brought to pre procedure room. There I got into robe, they put two different I.V.s in, hooked me up to what look like 20 or more wires to sense heart, things on my feet, hair, and on and on.

Met with procedure nurse. EP surgeon, and anesthesiologist. All went over what was going to happen and what to expect and asked if any questions. They them moved me down to the procedure room. Oh wow, look like star wars. The room was so big with tons of equipment everywhere, There had to be a dozen people in there all doing different things to me.

Then the anesthesiologist said okay oxygen coming and we are going to put you to sleep I will be here to monitor and take care of you. Then nothing until I woke up in recovery room.

The surgery took 5 hours. So I was still very groggy when I woke up. I had no pain, no discomfort.

They decided to keep me overnight so was brought to my hospital room. There I.V.s, heart monitors, oxygen monitor. My procedure nurse came in and so did surgeon. They went over everything with me. Then the next morning the came back again checking on me and going over post procedures and to answer any questions.

When I was being discharged I felt weak in legs and groggy. What they explained to me was I was still going to get PVCs and possible short run tachycardia as the heart was really irritated with the ablation and would take a couple of week to calm down. They were right but I was expecting it so was no alarming.

I have been home one day now and still no pain or discomfort. Taking a shower was great (can do next day after ablation). I did have a huge bandage on my groin and was very hard to get the bandage off as it was very strong adhesion. But the incision area no pain no swelling, etc.

I have a one week follow up appointment unless I need something then to call. I hope this helped you, I tried. I could always send you private message if you like and explain more in detail if you like? I am not known for my brevity on MCC as you can see.

@anniemoe77
I went to my procedure notes. I had, RF (radiofrequency) ablation, which is a thermal ablation method. PFA (pulsed‑field ablation) is a completely different, non‑thermal technology.

I have read the PFA is better and safer. But I trust my EP did what was best for me.

@anniemoe77
Hi. I’m 79 and scheduled for Ablation. So scared. My prior one cancelled as I developed shingles from stress. I’m a high stress person and the waiting 3 weeks for procedure sent me over the edge. No idea what to expect. I have SVT and the EP will try to create the event in order to fix it. I just had the event today . BP about 190/90/140. I take atenonol to lower heart rate and it’s over in about 20-25 minutes. Scheduled June 18 for ablation I read all posts but they scare me more with most people still having issues etc. I don’t understand all the abbreviations people use. My PC prescribed me Clonazepam to calm me but reading side effects made me afraid to take it. Did I say I’m a mess. I’ve been told for this procedure you aren’t actually sedated totally. That’s also frightening. I hope your procedure goes great and I’m interested in anyone who can share more info as to what this involves. Thanks.

@jc76 so I see you had ablation a while ago. How are you doing now

@jrussfam
Yes had it done last Thursday. Was schedules to stay over night but on Friday had some episodes of tachycardia and decided to keep me one more day. I came home on Saturday.

I am doing okay. Really tired and getting back into my schedule. Still have tons of PVCs but I was told this would happen for a week or so as heart heals from being ablated.

I am a avid exerciser and cannot exercise for 1 week and can't do my water (because of catheter site being under water) aerobics. That is a real bummer for me. Only thing I can do (no bike riding either) is walk and they said limit to 5-10 minutes.

Thank you for asking!!!

@jrussfam
I know abbreviations are hard to deal with. Most of us abbreviate to cut down on length of post. Colleen the Director of MCC (Mayo Community Connect) has an abbreviation list for prostate cancer group but not sure she has one for heart rhythms, ICD/Pacemakers, etc.

What happens with ablation is it can stop the PVCs, PACs, VTAC, etc. but that is only one area, unless multiples are done at same time. The likelihood you have other areas causing PVCs, PACs, VTAC is high and that would create a need to do another one to fix the other areas. So doing one ablation does not mean all your PVCs, PACs, will stop.

Who told you that you are not sedated? That is not correct. When you have an ablation you will be sedated and the degree of amnesia is determined by your doctors. I just had my ablation on Thursday and I was under anesthesia for 5 hours. You are not going to be sedated and you are not going to be aware of ablation surgery, let that not worry you.

Talking to your surgeon, EP, cardiologist about your concerns is critical. I am not familiar with clonazepam but I was put on lorazepam (spell) to help with my stress and anxiety. Talk to your doctors about taking magnesium to help with PACs, and PVCs. There are many medications to help calm your heart prior to ablation.

The hospital only has some many ablation rooms to work with. With me my ablation was considered complex meaning because of time needed could not schedule another procedure prior to or after mine. So my surgery went over 5 hours.

My EP surgeon tried to duplicate my SVT also but could not find the cause so could not correct it. June 18th is not far away. Think about it helping you.

I know I have two other areas on heart that are causing PVCs also. But EP said was on outside of heart and could not be done at same time as doing ablation inside heart. So I will have PVCs and I can handle that. It is the tachyacardia that I hope will stop after the ablation of the PVC area that EP was creating havoc with my heart rympthm.

@jc76 thank you so much for your answers. I’m getting bloodwork tomorrow by PC. Perhaps will tell me if magnesium is low etc. 5 hours is a long time to be sedated! But happy to know I’ll not know anything and pray this fixes me.

@jrussfam I had an ablation for SVT 3 months ago (March). I have posted pretty extensively on this forum about my experience during and after the ablation, so jump over to my posts for some really reassuring information. I had "conscious" sedation, but don't be alarmed, there is nothing conscious about it from the patient's perspective! 3 months out, I am doing great, no SVT episodes and I have resumed my previous active lifestyle. I am 73. Best of luck to you!