Ablation

blueroses
blueroses Member Posts: 524
edited March 2014 in Long-Term Effects of Treatment #1
I am heading towards ablation surgery and wondered how others felt about it all if they have had it? I know the procedure just wondering how real people felt about the procedure and whether it worked well for them or not. Thanks. Blessings, Blueroses

Comments

  • Ern
    Ern Member Posts: 9
    #2
    Ablation
    blueroses,
    We have chatted before on this some. I had it in the summer of 2006 to halt a racing heart and for the most part it worked. I was nervous about it given the hazards and all but outside of my faith, my doctor who performed the procedure had done almost 500 at that point. Confidence in his experience and that he had only one bad outcome were a huge for me. I was in good health overall which helped too. I did have a bad reaction to the aerosol tpe anesthitic. That how I found out about my "derated" lung function, which is another story. I hope this helps you. I will keep an ey on this site if you have any other questions in the interim. All the best to you!
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #3
    Ern said:

    Ablation
    blueroses,
    We have chatted before on this some. I had it in the summer of 2006 to halt a racing heart and for the most part it worked. I was nervous about it given the hazards and all but outside of my faith, my doctor who performed the procedure had done almost 500 at that point. Confidence in his experience and that he had only one bad outcome were a huge for me. I was in good health overall which helped too. I did have a bad reaction to the aerosol tpe anesthitic. That how I found out about my "derated" lung function, which is another story. I hope this helps you. I will keep an ey on this site if you have any other questions in the interim. All the best to you!

    Hey Ern
    I faintly remember our chat before on this subject - chemo brain strikes again. lol. Interesting about the anesthetic though. I am allergic to a dye that they use in CT's but not anesthetics - so far. I do have other health issues, one being reduced lung function that they are having a hard time pinpointing, so the anesthesiologists are always leary to put me out for anything. Right now they are deciding about 2 surgeries I have coming up for that reason. So did they put you right out for the ablation - I had the impression that they didn't want you asleep for this for some reason? If you were awake did you have to lie there for hours completely still and did you find that difficult? Any after effects?
    Thanks for you input. Hope this response finds you in good shape. Blessings, Blueroses.
  • Ern
    Ern Member Posts: 9
    #4
    blueroses said:

    Hey Ern
    I faintly remember our chat before on this subject - chemo brain strikes again. lol. Interesting about the anesthetic though. I am allergic to a dye that they use in CT's but not anesthetics - so far. I do have other health issues, one being reduced lung function that they are having a hard time pinpointing, so the anesthesiologists are always leary to put me out for anything. Right now they are deciding about 2 surgeries I have coming up for that reason. So did they put you right out for the ablation - I had the impression that they didn't want you asleep for this for some reason? If you were awake did you have to lie there for hours completely still and did you find that difficult? Any after effects?
    Thanks for you input. Hope this response finds you in good shape. Blessings, Blueroses.

    Ablation
    In my case I was out for the duration, some 3.5 hours. At least I do not remember being "awake" for any of it. During the procedure the anesthetic they administer can calm the heart, that being contrary to why they are there: to get your heart racing so they can identify which nerve to ablate. In light of that I think they may regulate how much you are "under" so they can do what they need to do. I can see that if you have lung issues, the aerosol type anesthetic may be a problem.
    Ultimately for me the procedure worked. I had an "irritable" heart for awhile after, lots of arrythmias of different sorts but that calmed to what I have now over time. I have had a couple of racing incidents in the 2.5 years hence, not near the frequency or high rate as before. I am glad I did it. I am working and doing most of what I did before. The alternative was drugs, and It was not a place i wanted to go if I could avoid it.
    I hope this helps.
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #5
    Ern said:

    Ablation
    In my case I was out for the duration, some 3.5 hours. At least I do not remember being "awake" for any of it. During the procedure the anesthetic they administer can calm the heart, that being contrary to why they are there: to get your heart racing so they can identify which nerve to ablate. In light of that I think they may regulate how much you are "under" so they can do what they need to do. I can see that if you have lung issues, the aerosol type anesthetic may be a problem.
    Ultimately for me the procedure worked. I had an "irritable" heart for awhile after, lots of arrythmias of different sorts but that calmed to what I have now over time. I have had a couple of racing incidents in the 2.5 years hence, not near the frequency or high rate as before. I am glad I did it. I am working and doing most of what I did before. The alternative was drugs, and It was not a place i wanted to go if I could avoid it.
    I hope this helps.

    Thanks Ern
    Thanks for your response, it helps to know someone who went through it.

    In my case I had heart damage from one of the chemo drugs which caused the arythmias (atrial fibrulation) and a pacemaker had to be inserted. Because of the pacemaker I was able to avoid ablation by taking drugs in high doses that without the pacemaker no one
    could normally take. It works but I think that the side effects from these drugs is too
    much now. If I was knocked out for the whole procedure I think I would elect to go with it but here I believe they still want you awake for a large part of it, which part I don't know. Maybe that has changed since I looked into it about 3 years ago. I do remember the doctor saying that I had to lie still for hours after the surgery and that made me nervous, heck what if I sneezed? Anywho thanks for your input. Blessings, Blueroses.
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #6
    Ablation
    Hi, Blueroses
    I had a radio frequency ablation performed on my liver. So far, it has proven successfull and has an equal success rate as an "open" liver resection. I had to have follow-up CyberKnife radio surgery in addition to clear away the remnants of the tumor. So far, the cancer has not returned to the liver - but it may have spread to my lung - I'm chasing that one down now. It's a good procedure and I would make the same decision again. Thx.

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