Yes, Krav, I very much appreciated your recognition of my Dharma name (which I was given when I went through a Zen lay ordination process & ceremony)!

Note: I am working (& I work long & unusual hours as I have the latitude to work flexibly, which suits asynchronous nature of the work I do, which is primarily dedicated to the oversight of biomedical R & D)...so this will be brief (even if what I usually post does not seem "brief"...it is for me (my job as a health scientist administrator is to read, think, analyse, & advise).

Didn't know you were taking Apixaban ("Eliquis"). That's a road I am thus far unwilling to travel on (all pharmaceutical anti-coagulants, including thrombolytics). Rather, I take proteolytic enzymes, namely, lumbrokinase (Boluoke, which has a published RCT behind it), nattokinase NSK-SD (which has Japanese RCTs behind it), & serrapeptase, which evince slower-acting thrombolytic effects...without the adverse side effects so characteristic of pharmaceutical anti-coagulants (of all kinds).

Dr. Sinatra pioneered the introduction of....nattokinase to the US...many years ago--& prescribed it widely.

Now, on the subject of the progression--post onset (for whatever reason) of AF: Many incident Afibbers do NOT experience disease progression after onset--which is fantastic news. Some do (& American cardiology generally promotes the inevitability of disease progression in its justification for "interventional"--medical & surgical, cardiology.

As someone who spent a fair part of his life living in Continental Europe, I may well be biased in my preference for & admiration of European (vs. American) cardiology & protocols (see the video of Dr. Mandrola--above in another of my posts, where he references differences between American & European approaches). So I look to this European study, which is only one on record to follow longitudinally--without medical or surgical intervention, a large group off confirmed Afibbers to observe whether & to what extent...disease progression occurs.

Here's the URL to the study: https://academic.oup.com/europace/article/22/8/1162/5869098

Results: "Compared to the first 6 months, 111 (62%) patients remained stable during the second 6 months, 39 (22%) showed progression to longer AF episodes, 8 (3%) developed persistent AF, and 29 (16%) patients showed AF regression."

And on the important subject of AF Burden (which only the Apple Watch measures--& why I recommend to everyone that they purchase a new Apple Watch): https://www.afburden.com/ (parameters of afib burden).

As for exercise: I am a confirmed--but now scaled-back, devotee of the following exercise programs: Insanity, TapOut XT (which is MMA-themed extreme fitness) P90X, P90X2, P90X3, & Beach Body's T-25 (25-minute high intensity, body-weight with bands work-outs).

Just read a paper indicating that...HIIT workouts can result in arterial plaque clearing!

Finishing up this missive: How shall we exchange (for starters) email addresses (while preserving privacy on this platform)?

Stay safe (Arcturus & its evolving progeny are scaling up their evolutionary progression)--& cheers 🙂