8 Weeks

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ MAZE Alumni Forum ]

Posted by Edward Bud Viren on January 23, 2002 at 11:42:32:

I had the maze surgery performed by Dr. Dearani at the Mayo Medical Center in Rochester, MN on December 8, 2001. I was in AFib when I layed down on the operating table and have be in NSR since I woke up from the surgery.

I am 45 (birthday was yesterday) and have lived with this problem for 10 years. I have tried all the medicine combinations except for long term Amiodarone. They all seemed to work for a while but eventually became ineffective. Rythmol worked the longest (about 2 years). Last fall no drugs would restore NSR. I would be in AFib for days. I had 4 electro cardioversions, which were all successfull, but each time the electrical current and number of shocks had to be increased. It looked like this too would eventually fail to restore NSR. Avoiding the triggers - stress, nicotine, msg, caffiene (even chocolate) and alcohol worked for a while but in the end I lost control completely and there was nothing I could do to control the problem.

I studied the ablation procedures and was even scheduled for one in November of 2001. I elected not to have the procedure one day before the scheduled day. I was concerned about the extremely low success rates over time and the huge risks of pulmonary vein stenosis. I belive that some day they will come up with a successful and much safer ablation procedure. But for now the only choice for me was the maze surgery.

So far I am very pleased with the results. I have been free of all arrythmia drugs for one week. I trust I will never need them again.

I have a question for those of you that have gone through this procedure:

I have a slight clicking sound in the very bottom of my sternum when I roll over in bed or bend wrong when upright. Is this normal? Does it go away? Should I just live with it (it does not hurt)?

Follow Ups:


Post a Followup

Name    : 
E-Mail  : 
Subject : 

Comments:


Optional Link URL:  
Link Title:         
Optional Image URL:

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ MAZE Alumni Forum ]

WWWBoard 2.0a and WWWAdmin 2.0a © 1997, All Rights Reserved.
Matt Wright and DBasics Software Company