Short update:

A few days ago I got into an Afib for about 3 hours after trying to
show off climbing a steep little hill on my bicycle. Took about 3 hours to get
back into NSR.

Contacted the doc, and he said not to worry in the slightest, as this
was to be expected and was the normal course of events, and would eventually go away..

But, I kept off of the bike for a few days, substituting 3 mile walks
instead of biking.

I got back on the bike today and did 18 miles just fine - all normal sinus rhythm (NSR). I
am now letting my heart rate go up to 110 bpm, and plan on increasing
it gently about 5-10 beats per minute every week or so for the next
few weeks.

Am sending in the 3 heart EKG's daily (you can send them all at once by telephone
at the end of the day).

Another person here in our church had his ablation done locally a
week after mine. He is having all sorts of trouble including
additional hospitalization and referral to a "rehab hospital"
(nursing home). But, he is not the type of person I could ever talk
to about going to the Cleveland Clinic or elsewhere where there is more expertise - whatever the doc says, he believes, and he shuts the conversation down very quickly.

Heard about another person - about 300 pounds and a really big guy,
who, when undergoing the ablation, had a catheter inserted that was too short
to reach all the needed areas near the heart. Absolutely gross
incompetence on the part of that doc, IMHO. It does not take a genius to figure out you should measure the catheter against the person's size BEFORE you do the ablation.

So glad I found Dr. Natale to do my ablation. Lots of scary medicine going on out there!