good morning
this weekend has been the first bike rides adter the av ablation 2-21. can't believe it, am convinced that i will be able to kick butt in a couple weeks. heart rate is still being controlled between 90 and 130 but the pacemaker can now control the rate to what the body needs. in a month the factors will be changed from 80 bpm to 130. i think i must talk to have it raised to 140, but will try. i just can't believe what the improvment has been in such a short period of time.
thanks

That is exciting news, especially to me. I hope that when I have my ablation, I will also be able once again to "kick butt."

Thanks for sharing. Gives me a lot of hope.

Good luck with the procedure. I haven't looked in on the forum in awhile but I am glad to see that you have been able to get an ablation scheduled with a pair of specialists. I may have missed the discussion but which version of the ablation are you going to receive, cryo, RF, or Ultrasound?

My ablation is scheduled August 25, 2005 in Marin General Hospital (SF) with Dr. Andrea Natale

HAd my MRI this am to to try tofind out what s happening in my brain with regards to the trigrminal neuralgia.

Stayed in the damn machine for over an hour, but they were not able ti get the IV's in in order to get me injected for the 2nf half - the "contrast" portion of the MRI.

Have no clue as to how important that portion is - we shall see what the MD wants,

Had to take 3 full atavans to make it through the test.

SO, I slept all afternoon, and am just now gettng back in"working order."

Did do a short 6.5 mile ride with the wife, though!

just to say that my heart's with you, i wish you the best of health and great rides.

That sounds like a trying experience. What was the issue with not being able to get the IV's? I would think that would be readily available at any site doing that procedure - the contrast portion is rather important.

Oh, it was available, they just couldn't get it in my vein(s).

Ouch! Keep us in the loop. As I recall, you are still facing your ablation procedure in August are you not?

Brief Update:

Definitely scheduled for ablation in San Francisco August 24th and 25th.

Still have the terrible pain from the neuralgia. So far no solution besides medication from the MD world. Will be seeing another neurologist next week and a neurosurgeon along with a CAT scan.

Still bicycling about 20 miles per day, weight lifting and walking.

Hang in there. It's tough to have two medical issues at once. At least the ablation should cure the afib. For the other issue, perhaps acupunture might help. I had a friend who become a believer in it after being in pain for over ten years with his leg that was pretty much destroyed in a motorcycle accident. He has many, many surgeries to rebuild it and every few years, it would break again. He tried acupuncture not expecting much and it was totally successful. He was astonished by being pain free after so many years. It may not work at all in your case, but you might investigate to see if there is at least a possibility. Keep up the biking - Best of luck to you!

The PVI ablation for the atrial fibrillation in San Francisco with Dr. Natale is definitely a go, but now scheduled for August 26th, rather than the 25th.

Also, my new neurologist removed me from the Tegretol for my trigeminal neuralgia pain and changed me to trileptal (at my request). I can now think again, the pain is pretty much controlled, and, as I predicted, my blood pressure has dropped amazingly from about 140/90-95 during the tegretol period to, this morning, about 93/65 (which I noticed immediately as I almost fainted standing up! And, the INR (warfarin level) has almost returned to normal from being precipitously low.

For those interested, I think we have finally gotten organized and our
ducks in a row regarding the Pulmonary Vein Isolation Ablation set for the 26th:

This will be pretty boring, so feel to disregard. So, here goes!

August 23rd, Tuesday.

Arrive at San Francisco Airport from Denver, Get rental car

Journey to Larkspur and motel

August 24th, Wednesday

Go to Heart scan in Cupertino, about 60 miles south fo heart scan at
11:00 am - takes about 2 hours.

August 25th - Thursday

9:00 am - check into hospital, blood work, meet with Natale's nurses,

11:00 am - get "Heart Card" about 1 block from hospital. The "Heart
Card" allows transmission of EKG's from my heart through a phone line,
and is about the size of a credit card. I will wear it 90-120 days.

Friday, August 26th, 7:00 am.

Go to hospital at 7:00 am.

Procedure starts at 8:30 am, takes about fourl hours. I guess I will be
anesthetized or at least partially anesthetized.

Finish when I finish.

Stay in hospital the night of the 26th

Saturday, 27th

Release from hospital before 11:00 am

Go to motel, stay the night of the 27th.

Then, we are also staying the 28th and 29th and leaving the 30th for
our flight back to Denver. If we feel up to it, we will go see the
Napa Valley, etc.

Maybe we will rent bikes and bike tour the Napa Valley!!!

Good luck with this. I had an ablation for SVT 4 years ago. Although the condition isn't the same, perhaps the procedure is. I was given anesthesia but they told me I wouldn't be completely under. Coulda fooled me - I slept through most of it - only woke up once when they intentionally caused an SVT episode - guess they were looking for the right spot. Again, best of luck. :)

Thanks.

How long did it take for you to "recover?"

Just got in from a trip, been away during this entire thread. First off, glad to hear you had the smarts to continue questioning people and then the take matters into your own hands.
Second, I am happy it seems a controllable condition. (I haven't yet read all the posts, so forgive me if I miss a point or two). I wish you a speedy recovery!!

That must have been some trip, as this thread started 09-29-04, 06:57 PM. :roflmao:

Where'd you go?

I was up and allowed to walk to the bathroom that evening but that was it. Something having to do with the combo of anesthesia and the wound in the groin area - one of the catheters went up through that major vein in your leg. There was this thing that reminded me of a sandbag that put alot of pressure on my leg for quite awhile. Went home the following day. Was fully recovered in about a week. It was like nothing had happened. What took the longest to recover from, believe it or not, was where the catheters were put in. There was a mark from one on my neck that looked like I had a giant hickey. ;)

It wasn't that long a trip!! I did not look at the start date, Only glanced into the 50+ forum and found it right near the top, thought it was all new. For the record I was on the west coast of FLA this week. Sacramento Ca recently and in two weeks its off to Italy for a quick 4 days. I have been meaning to mention during my Sacramento trip I was really impressed with all of the bike lanes on the roads, they don't have those here in NC.
In any case I'm glad you got a good laugh.

Have finally now finished reading the entire thread. Good Luck next week Fox. I am sure we are all waiting for a good report.
In several replies on this thread there was commentary about your efforts and output here on the forum. I've got to agree, I find I look for your comments and threads because I find them so readable, relevent (sp) and interesting. You definately create alot of added value to the forum.
Take Good Care!

Well, I will be sure to always read YOUR posts!

:o :o :o :o :o

Thanks.

Okay, I traveled the freeways of California and the streets through downtown San Francisco 60 miles today to get my "Heart Screen" done.

I had previously sent an email to them describing in detail the problems folks have in starting an IV on me. Of course, no one really believes s mere patient - they are all convinced they know more than I do.

So, the "special nurse" who knows about all of this did not show up - she had to attend a neeting.

The radiology guy took me immediately to a freezing room where they keep the machine - about 45F, and, guess what - he couldn't even find a vein to try. I explained that perhaps the freezing room might cause my veins to contract, and would defeat the purpose of what we were trying to do.

So, we wait and wait and wait for the Doc to come to the place, and about an hour later he did. He messed and messed and stuck me, all with no luck.

So, I suggested we use my foot, and that if I stood up, the blood would run to my feet, and that would work.

Anybody here know how tender the top of the foot is to needles?

So, they got it started in my foot, got the machine going - which, however, is calibrated to the time it taked the dye to go from the elbow to the heart, not from the foot to the heart.

So, I lie there on the friggin table, freezing for an hour while they futz around, giving me a bit of dye to see if I have an anaphylactic reaction and die, or if I can take the dye.

Anyway, they finally contact the consulting cardio, who says the foot will definitely NOT work, and they shouldn't be shoving all that dye through the foor anyways!

So, we have to try again tomorrow, when the cardio is there, who will "definitely" be able to get the IV in. sure.

In the meantime, everything I have scheduled for tomorrow is wiped out, so we buzz 60 miles back to the hospital for a quickie admissions, get the INR done "stat" and keep the lady giving the heart card on overtime so I can get it, as it was also planned for tomorrow.

So the INR was 1.8, and I have to "dose up" in the morning to get it to 2.0 by Friday!

So, tomorrow we journey the famous freeways of CA to get stuck like a pig one more day, and then on Friday, the IV thing starts all over again.

Okay, so I awoke at 3:00 am and am a bit tired, but this was truly "A Day from Hell."

Wish me well!

Grin and bear it - It will be worth it when ithe PVA is finished.

You sure make me feel very lucky that I have "good veins" in my arm after reading your report.

Good luck tomorrow.

I wish you well, Fox! Thanks for the update.

Keep up the good fight there.

If you get fixed this will be a forgotten memory in no time.