Posted by Leo Craft on June 17, 2005 at 10:09:47:
In Reply to: Re: HIFU Mini Maze - ~9 Week Post Surgery - not good posted by Ian on June 16, 2005 at 22:55:59:
Ian,
Thanks for your educational e-mail. I had only AFIB pre-surgery, six hours a day. Post MiniMaze I have had AFlutter 24 hours a day. Until I received your explanation I have been kinda ticked at my surgeon for not ablating the appropriate part of the right Atrium during the Mini Maze as a precaution to eliminate any likelihood of Atrial Flutter. But your explanation says that the Mini Maze procedure cannot ablate the appropriate area. True? If so, I now know why my Cardiologists and Dr. McCarthy are telling me that AFlutter ablation should be done after my heart heals from the mini maze.
Where is Dr. Wolf? Does he use the Epicor equipment? Keep me posted after your procedure. Heads up: The post op pain is indescribably horrible. On a pain scale of 1-10, mine was close to 10 for nearly a week, and not much better for three weeks. Be prepared for this, and come out of surgery running like a clock!
Leo Craft
P.S. Regarding waiting a few months for the heart to heal. There is another reason: My Cardiologist told me that the EP's who do the ablation prefer not having you on Amiodarone during the procedure. Amioradone has a six week half life, meaning 50% is still in your blood if you stopped taking it six weeks ago. At the moment I am loaded with Amioradone.