all is well

We got to the Heart Rhythm Center on time, checked in, and waited for them to call me back which they did about a half hour or so after I got to the waiting area of the pre/post op floor where they hooked me up to every medical device known to man, did the transesophageal echocardiography under twilight sleep and then rolled me into operating theater. We passed my doctor in the hall, I’ll be right there he said, do your best I told him and that was the last time I saw him. Once in the room filled with all sorts of imaging devices they plastered my back and sides with sensors, anesthesiologist asked it they were ready and that’s the last thing I remember.

Woke up in the pre/post op center from whence i had come. The procedure took four hours which is what the nurses said it would take before they whisked me off. My doctor had gone out to tell Marc that all went well, that there was no sign of afib now and they would be keeping me overnight because recovery would be long. After coming out of the anesthesia I had to lay flat on my back, no moving my head or legs but could move my arms, for 6 hours which would not be up until 10 PM. Sore throat and because I was laying flat my sinuses kept draining into my throat so was constantly trying to clear my throat. And they had an external catheterization device on me which as far as I could tell was a cup attached to a long tube that would suck the pee up and I really had to pee. Just relax the nurse said and let it happen. Yeah, just relax and counter decades of training not to wet the bed. Which btw I had done under the anesthesia I guess because when I woke up the bedding was wet under me. Anyway I finally coughed hard enough which put pressure on my bladder and released all the pee.

I guess everyone else in the pre/post op center went home until I was the only one left waiting for a bed upstairs. They finally got me upstairs about 8 and I still had two hours to go laying flat on my back. At 10 PM I was finally allowed to sit up and then I dozed off and on sitting up til about 3 when I lowered the bed and laid down again sleeping in spurts because...hospitals that want you to sleep and rest but wake you up regularly for vitals or blood or this or that. Wednesday morning was a constant stream of techs and nurses and advocates and NPs and assistants and they discharged me about 9:30 and Marc came and picked me up about 10:30 and we drove home in a hard blinding rain.

So Wednesday I did nothing but lay in the recliner snoozing off and on still recovering from the general anesthesia, nice sinus rhythm in the hospital and at home if a little rapid, about 70 bpm, until about 5 PM when I went into afib and it continued off and on, mostly on, til about 9:30 this morning (and still going in and out) and my emotions just sank. What the fuck, doctor said it was successful, why am I in afib, did it not work, am I going to have to do this again, I don’t want to go through this again. Went to bed last night thoroughly disappointed. Called the doctor’s office first thing, like 5 minutes after they opened and left a message for the nurse to call me back. 

So the nurse called back about an hour later. They should have explained this to me before they discharged me, she said, but it is common to continue to have afib episodes after the ablation because my heart is still inflamed from the procedure and is still healing. The areas they burned or froze, whichever, that stimulate the afib are still raw and it will take about two month for the heart to heal completely and for the scars to harden. Once the scars harden I should be free of the afib so in the meantime I stay on the drugs to help control the rhythm and they upped the dose of one and added another temporarily.

I feel good now, reassured that these episodes are normal, that they will lessen in frequency and eventually stop when all the healing is done.

Thank you all for all the white light, love, and good wishes sent my way. I’m sure it helped guide my doctor’s hand.