Waiting for my ablation on May 14th...can someone calm me down?

I had an ablation for PVC ‘s on March 12th. I was home the night of the procedure and continue to recover. For me, the ablation was a big deal.
My doctor explained to me that the culprit was in a hard to get to place bordering my pulmonary artery. My doctor made safety a priority during the procedure. He could have been more aggressive but it would have risked penetrating the wall of the pulmonary artery which would have required emergency open heart surgery to fix. I still have some PVC’s, but not as pronounced as before the ablation.
I too had anxiety before the procedure. I ended up writing out my thoughts in letter form and gave it to my doctor. He told me latter that it confirmed his belief that I too wanted safety first and he proceeded in that fashion.
Have trust in your Doc and procedure team. There a lot of letting go.

I had tachycardia, not afib, but they thought it was atrial flutter. Had an ablation, which was not bad. I think its fear of the unknown more that it being a hard procedure. My heart “hurt” for a few days, nothing serious. Sadly tho the ablation did not correct the arrhythmia. I have been on Flecainide for several years without any obvious side effects. It keeps it under control. You will do fine!! Good luck.

I have 4 leaky heart valves (2 minor and two moderate) so I get a Echo every 6 months to monitor those leaks. In 2019 my Cardiologist ordered a 24 hour Halter test because she saw something on my EKG. The Halter report indicated a significant number of extra beats and a significant number of supraventricular beats. Given the fact that I have leukemia and I'm on a low dose chemo regimen the surgeon and my Cardiologist decided to skip meds and go right to the ablation. The surgery went well. One electrical issue was superficial and one was deeper. I was awake for the entire procedure except when they blasted the problem areas. The only issue was when they pilled out the probes. They have to apply pressure on the arteries for a long time to make sure the arteries close. My Holter and Surgical reports are attached for your reading pleasure. The heart surgeons have perfected this surgery so I suspect you wont have any problems. Good luck.

Mjpm2406, it is generous of you to share your holter and surgical reports to give context to the information you shared. However, we recommend not sharing personal identifying information, such as full name, address, hospital, and patient ID number, on a public forum. Thus, I removed the reports. Feel free to post them again with the identifying information removed or blacked out.

@skkirby, for similar reasons, I removed your personal email address from your post. You may use the secure private messaging to exchange contact information. I might also add that by sharing here in the forum, you are sharing information and connecting with several people where all can benefit from group support.

@cece55 Great to hear and we look forward to hearing more after you procedure.
Blessings
Dana

I had a ablation to remove scar tissue from a heart attack. I was a Vfib heart. The procedure was nothing except I was only partially asleep. Good luck. If you want to ask me anything specific message back

Although I did not have ablation for AFIB I recently on April 6th had my second ablation done at Mayo Clinic. I had a congenital defect band of abnormal tissue all around my pulmonary valve. They had to burn the entire area which was pretty intense it isn’t the most fun procedure but I am three weeks out and it was the best thing I ever did. I was so bradycardic that I was averaging 30-40 bpm with occasional NSVT, PSVT and PAC’s but the main issues was 20,000 Bigeminal PVC’s daily. Flecanide made me have neuropathy in my feet and all other beta blockers lowered my heart rate too much. It was scary having the thought of the procedure but I am so glad I did it. I am better not perfect but at least my bpm’s are finally in the 60-70 range.

@jeff79922 in order to protect your privacy and to avoid spammers, I have removed your email address. You may private message people that information directly but we advise against posting it publicly.

I've had 2 ablations in 2019 for an abnormal ventricular rhythm or PVCs that were causing a decreased Ejection Fraction (EF). Before my first ablation, I was in an abnormal ventricular rhythm 37% of the time. The first ablation only reduced the frequency of the PVCs to 25% so after 6 months I had another ablation. They woke me up during the second procedure so they could better pinpoint the areas needing ablation. It worked! The second ablation reduced the PVCs to >1% and my EF returned to normal. It was a little scary being awake during the second one because I could hear them say there and felt for a few seconds them actually burn the spot. But overall the procedures were wonderful in correcting the problem.

Interestingly, one week after my second Covid vaccine I could feel the pounding in my chest. So, I went back to the Electro Physiologist. After wearing a Holter monitor for a week, I discovered I was having short runs of Afib aka Paroxysmal Afib. Because it was infrequent, a Medtronic Linq was inserted in my chest so I could be monitored daily to see if it becomes chronic. It has been a couple months since the Linq was inserted and I haven't had any more Afib.

I consider myself to be drug sensitive aa well. I have been taking flecainide for several years for Afib. It is much more controlled and have not noticed poor side effects. Good luck with the ablation. I find that slow deep belly breathing paired with slow intentional movement calms my mind and body. I will look into tapping. good luck with your ablation.