Icarus
Active member
Hi to All, it's been a while.
Two months ago, I wrote that I was going for a CryoAblation to get rid of my intermitant rapid heartbeat (SVT).
Well, I went into the Hospital (Beth Israel, NY) and was one of the first to use the new equipment. The ablation went fine, didn't feel a thing and was talking sports with the nurse while they kept on calling out numbers in the background, mapping my heart impulse pathways.
Ten minutes later, the Electrophysiologist scoots over in his chair and says, "you need a pacemaker." - I said why? what about the CryoAblation? At this point, he informed me that he completed the CryoAblation 5 minutes after they started. They found the problem and froze it to death. However, as he was snooping around, he found a possible heart block condition and suggested the pacemaker.
Ticked off, I went in for the Pacemaker that evening. The surgeon, real nice guy, put it in and I thought that was it. Nope, the lead to the Atrium did not attach and it sprung over to a part of the heart that was close to my chest wall and every time it fired, my side jerked, involuntarily. Bizarre.
The next morning I went back to the OR and they opened the pacemaker area and tried to reposition it. The surgeon had me do everything short of push-ups to make sure it stayed in place then closed up the wound again. Just to be sure, he checked the positioning again before I left the OR. Well, it moved again so for the third time they opened the area. This was getting annoying, but I just wanted it over with.
The next day they X-rayed it and found out that the wire just sprung into some God-awful shape and they just shut off the atrium control on the pacemaker, leaving just the ventricle lead operating. This they informed me, was the way the original pacemakers worked and would save me if I ever went into heart block. I'm thrilled. The only thing that makes me feel OK about this is that it's on standby and doesn't pace my heart. It will only kick in if my heart rate goes below 55.
All that stuff was an annoyance. The Coumadin portion made me ballistic.
The E.P. put me on Lovenox before the procedure so I wouldn't have to go to the Hospital 3 days early.
When all the procedures were over, the pacemaker physician would not let me go on it (Lovenox) to get out. He put me on a Heparin drip for ***** 5 DAYS ***** in the Hospital, waiting for my INR to come back to a minimum of 2.0 using Coumadin to bring it up.
He was probably right to demand this, explaining to me that if I ever started bleeding on Lovenox (or for that matter Exanta - the new drug, which is depressing as Hell) - I could bleed to death for 12 hours until it wore off. There is no antidote for those drugs to stop the bleeding like there is (a shot of Vitamin K) to stop the bleeding while on Coumadin.
The bottom line is I would highly recommend the CryoAblation for rapid heart beats. It seems totally safe and is quick and painless. However, check on the coumadin situation. Cryo is usually an overnighter, but not for patients on coumadin.
Regards,
Rich
Two months ago, I wrote that I was going for a CryoAblation to get rid of my intermitant rapid heartbeat (SVT).
Well, I went into the Hospital (Beth Israel, NY) and was one of the first to use the new equipment. The ablation went fine, didn't feel a thing and was talking sports with the nurse while they kept on calling out numbers in the background, mapping my heart impulse pathways.
Ten minutes later, the Electrophysiologist scoots over in his chair and says, "you need a pacemaker." - I said why? what about the CryoAblation? At this point, he informed me that he completed the CryoAblation 5 minutes after they started. They found the problem and froze it to death. However, as he was snooping around, he found a possible heart block condition and suggested the pacemaker.
Ticked off, I went in for the Pacemaker that evening. The surgeon, real nice guy, put it in and I thought that was it. Nope, the lead to the Atrium did not attach and it sprung over to a part of the heart that was close to my chest wall and every time it fired, my side jerked, involuntarily. Bizarre.
The next morning I went back to the OR and they opened the pacemaker area and tried to reposition it. The surgeon had me do everything short of push-ups to make sure it stayed in place then closed up the wound again. Just to be sure, he checked the positioning again before I left the OR. Well, it moved again so for the third time they opened the area. This was getting annoying, but I just wanted it over with.
The next day they X-rayed it and found out that the wire just sprung into some God-awful shape and they just shut off the atrium control on the pacemaker, leaving just the ventricle lead operating. This they informed me, was the way the original pacemakers worked and would save me if I ever went into heart block. I'm thrilled. The only thing that makes me feel OK about this is that it's on standby and doesn't pace my heart. It will only kick in if my heart rate goes below 55.
All that stuff was an annoyance. The Coumadin portion made me ballistic.
The E.P. put me on Lovenox before the procedure so I wouldn't have to go to the Hospital 3 days early.
When all the procedures were over, the pacemaker physician would not let me go on it (Lovenox) to get out. He put me on a Heparin drip for ***** 5 DAYS ***** in the Hospital, waiting for my INR to come back to a minimum of 2.0 using Coumadin to bring it up.
He was probably right to demand this, explaining to me that if I ever started bleeding on Lovenox (or for that matter Exanta - the new drug, which is depressing as Hell) - I could bleed to death for 12 hours until it wore off. There is no antidote for those drugs to stop the bleeding like there is (a shot of Vitamin K) to stop the bleeding while on Coumadin.
The bottom line is I would highly recommend the CryoAblation for rapid heart beats. It seems totally safe and is quick and painless. However, check on the coumadin situation. Cryo is usually an overnighter, but not for patients on coumadin.
Regards,
Rich
