I have posted quite a bit, but thought the following might be helpful to new people. It is always good to learn and read other people's stories.
I am 6 months post op and without my Multaq, still have a-fib. The a-fib only lasted 5 minutes last time, but the cardiologist wanted me back on my Multaq. I have been on warfrin too. I don't want to stay on meds the rest of my life, but that may be my only option.
I met with a specialist in Cardiac Electrophysiology, Dr. Bedi from Wheeling, yesterday. He specializes in ablation, pacemakers, etc. He feels that I am not the best candidate for ablation and that it might only be 70 percent sucessful. That might be after 2 or 3 ablations. He told me that ablation is a 6 hour procedure. 4 hours for the ablation with one hour of prep and one hour of post op work. So 2 or 3 six hour surgeries are not what I really want to do anyways. The death rate is only 1 percent with ablation according to him. So that is not the problem, but putting my heart and body thru those 6 hour procedures does not sound like fun.
He feels my heart is not healed yet. I am going to stay on Multaq and warfrin for 6 months to give my heart time to heal better. Then I will try getting off Multaq. If a-fib returns, it is back on meds. I still have several other meds to try if Multaq begins to not work for me. I have alread tried ameordorne and one other that cause me a lot of problems. The last option would be a pacemaker, but that is not very probable at this point.
My cardiologist wanted to put me on the new blood thinner that you don't have to watch what you eat and you don't have your INR checked, but Dr. Bedi says it is very new. It does a good job so far, but he doesn't want me on two new meds at one time. Multaq is very new. He asked the manufacturers of Multaq how well it worked with the new blood thinner and they did not give him a new answer. So he will keep me on warfrin for now with the Multaq. He says he doesn't want me on 2 new meds and be a statistic!
So at 6 months post op, I feel pretty good. Lots of energy, but still short on long term stamina. I will continue my Multaq and warfrin and get on with life for now. Guess we never know what will happen until it does. As far as I know, my new bovine aortic valve is working fine.
Best wishes for all on the board. It is sometimes a long journey, but ends well for most of us.
Pat
I am 6 months post op and without my Multaq, still have a-fib. The a-fib only lasted 5 minutes last time, but the cardiologist wanted me back on my Multaq. I have been on warfrin too. I don't want to stay on meds the rest of my life, but that may be my only option.
I met with a specialist in Cardiac Electrophysiology, Dr. Bedi from Wheeling, yesterday. He specializes in ablation, pacemakers, etc. He feels that I am not the best candidate for ablation and that it might only be 70 percent sucessful. That might be after 2 or 3 ablations. He told me that ablation is a 6 hour procedure. 4 hours for the ablation with one hour of prep and one hour of post op work. So 2 or 3 six hour surgeries are not what I really want to do anyways. The death rate is only 1 percent with ablation according to him. So that is not the problem, but putting my heart and body thru those 6 hour procedures does not sound like fun.
He feels my heart is not healed yet. I am going to stay on Multaq and warfrin for 6 months to give my heart time to heal better. Then I will try getting off Multaq. If a-fib returns, it is back on meds. I still have several other meds to try if Multaq begins to not work for me. I have alread tried ameordorne and one other that cause me a lot of problems. The last option would be a pacemaker, but that is not very probable at this point.
My cardiologist wanted to put me on the new blood thinner that you don't have to watch what you eat and you don't have your INR checked, but Dr. Bedi says it is very new. It does a good job so far, but he doesn't want me on two new meds at one time. Multaq is very new. He asked the manufacturers of Multaq how well it worked with the new blood thinner and they did not give him a new answer. So he will keep me on warfrin for now with the Multaq. He says he doesn't want me on 2 new meds and be a statistic!
So at 6 months post op, I feel pretty good. Lots of energy, but still short on long term stamina. I will continue my Multaq and warfrin and get on with life for now. Guess we never know what will happen until it does. As far as I know, my new bovine aortic valve is working fine.
Best wishes for all on the board. It is sometimes a long journey, but ends well for most of us.
Pat
