Is it worth it to come to Mayo for second opinion?

sure it was for me
do what you think is wise

I just got back from visiting the Mayo Clinic for a 2nd opinion about a 3rd ablation. I am just under 4 hours away so not bad. I stayed at the Brentwood Inn which is a pretty basic hotel, $120 a night which includes a Mayo patient discount. It is attached to Mayo by a connecting "tunnel" underground that takes you right to where you need to go and there are signs and people all along the way to help you find your way. It's an amazing place! Everyone is so accomodating and nice and punctual. I went the night before cuz I had a 10 am Echocardiogram scheduled, then a blood test, then a chest x-ray and finally an ecg. The final appt at 4pm was to see the Dr. I liked him right away. He really listened to me and made me feel like I was in good hands! He offered to do the ablation for me but said it may take 2 to 3 months for that to happen. I now have to decide on him doing it or my EP back home. The Mayo doctor agreed with the plan of action from my Dr. I hope you have as good of an experience as I did. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Wow. Thanks so much for this information. I do have a few questions. So, I have had tons of tests (including the obese you just mentioned) very recently. Will they make me do them all again? May I ask why you need a 3rd ablation? (Or what was it originally supposed to help with?) The hotel sounds great. Love that they could get all those tests in one day! I’m about four hours away as well! Montgomery, AL. How long did it take you to get your initial appt? Thanks again.

I started the process 5 weeks ago. My initial call to them was followed up by a phone interview with someone taking all my info about my case, my symptoms, my insurance and Drs. Info. Then they said the info was being sent to a triage team to decide if they would take my case and that could take two weeks. After two weeks I called to check on my status and they said they were still waiting on some records from my Dr. ( they handled getting all my records). Two weeks later they were ready to schedule an appointment and they were able to get me in the following week cuz there was a cancellation. As for your questions about the tests, yes, I also have fairly recent tests done by my doctor, but they wanted all new tests so they were the most up-to-date results which I thought was a great idea.

A little history, I am 65 years old and have had a fib for about 20 years. The first several years weren’t bad at all and were controlled by medication and a blood thinner. I needed my first ablation in 2017. I had a good three years or so, without any a fib, and then it slowly started to come back. I had a second ablation about a year and a half ago and it just plain didn’t work. It seem to be getting better and he was reducing my medication over the months but then it started to get worse again and then he had to increase my medication now my heart been doing a lot of racing pretty fast heartbeats . He told me he wanted to do an ablation soon the day after I had my second ablation, I had a stroke. I am fine. It was taken care of quickly and I had no residual effects. Needless to say, I am nervous about a third ablation so I thought this would be a good time to get a second opinion , my doctor was on board with that idea. So now I am at the point where I must make a decision about which doctor I will go ahead with. I believe I will go ahead and have that third ablation. It’s just a matter of who will it be with . I know I’ll never be cured, but I will keep doing whatever it takes to keep this at bay for as long as possible I will probably need an AV motivation ablation. Eventually my mother and brother have already had that.

Ahh I see. I put in a call and I think they took some info. Now I’m just waiting to see if my insurance will cover anyway. They told me to call them back after I figured things out with the insurance. Hope it all works out this time for you! I hear there can be quite the long wait. I’m a (almost) 43 year old female having flair ups of palpitations (runs of flutters, skilled beats). Scary stuff. Been to the ER more than I can count. Had six monitors the last five years. The last one in August. Course they never catch anthing so they won’t refer me to and EP. They did say I could get a loop recorder implanted if I wanted. I’m seriously considering. Have you ever thought of a pacemaker?

A second opinion at Mayo is just a great idea. After considerable effort at my primary in my home town I scheduled an appointment with Mayo heart rhythm and received such great support and respect. Finally a facility that completely understands the consequences of AFIB and PVC’s. Dr Kapa helped me with an ablation and the staff at St Mary’s in Rochester we’re all wonderful and will give you an understanding of why they are rated number one in the world. You have to experience Mayo to understand and you will I hope.

I asked the Dr. about a loop recorder and it didn't seem like it was for me. A regular pacemaker is mostly if you heart is going too slow and mine is mostly too fast. An AV node ablation with pacemaker is pretty much a last resort when all other interventions have failed and I think I'm a ways away from that!

How was your experience surrounding the ablation? In and out the same day? Did you have far to travel from your home? Do you have to travel back and forth for many follow ups? I need to make a decision about whether to have my EP back home or new Dr at Mayo to perform the ablation. They both agree that I need it and both are highly qualified. My Dr has been in my heart twice now but the new Dr. would be a fresh pair of eyes. How did you make your decision?

Hello @bobmidwest86791, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. It is great to hear that your experience at Mayo Clinic helped get some answers an a solution for moving forward.

@kelwel58 asks some great questions if you are comfortable sharing a bit more about you ablation experience at Mayo Clinic, how far you traveled and what you will be doing for follow up appointments. Could you share a bit more about your ablation experience, your travel and what the plan is moving forward now that you have had the ablation?

I’m so fortunate to only be 4 hours away from Rochester. Post ablation was a stay in St Mary’s from Tuesday (ablation day) thru Friday morning to monitor rhythm do to an addition of a rhythm drug called sotolol which requires observation . ( The staff at St Mary’s is incredible). The sotolol regiment was not a great experience but effective. I believe it was administered due to the fact I had been in AFIB for such a long period that muscle memory was the concern. I was on sotolol for 90 days and petitioned Dr Kappa’s staff to end that drug. I then felt very good but still experienced PVC’s and Dr Kappa preformed another type of Ablation, different than the first. I can truly say I hadn’t felt this good for a verrry long time.
Three years later I have had encountered another bout of arrhythmia but treated locally with another drug labeled dofetelide which I have tolerated very well and currently in sinus. Unfortunately I think it took a trip to Mayo to gain the attention of my local doctor’s and the severity of my symptoms. Additionally, a cardiologist in Fl insisted I either have an ablation in Fl but strongly suggest Mayo.
I have had a couple other cardiovascular experiences (stents) at Rochester and I simply cannot say enough about the quality of care I have received there. Let me also say the scheduling departments are absolutely out of this world. They truly understand the distances the patients need to travel and so try to accommodate.
I know I probably sound like an ambassador for the Clinic but they have genuinely changed my life and so many others that have shared their stories and experiences. I certainly hope you are able to become a patient there and wish you the very best.