Posted by Ed Wehan on February 08, 2002 at 21:31:10:
In Reply to: Maze drugs or ablation? posted by Tim on February 08, 2002 at 06:35:17:
Tim, first of all, I am a runner also as you may know. I ran 19 today and then just got back from walking with my 6 year old daughter on the beach here in Ventura, Ca. I had to make the same decision as you. My running suffered with AFib but so did a lot of other things. I will be 58 this month but had my surgery just one year ago. I wished I had done it sooner. This year has been amazing to me. I came back from the surgery pretty quickly which was probably due to my fitness. I ran a 10 mile tough race at four months.
I try to stay up on the catheter stuff but I haven't seen any real improvement in statistics. For me, I would choose the maze again. Dr. McCarthy hasn't lost a lone AFib patient and evidently has about a 98% success rate.
I know of two pilots who had the maze because they needed to be cured in order to continue flying. I was in contact with both of them prior to my surgery for support and they were great. Back to flying wide bodies as far as I know.
This isn't an easy decision, I know, but as many of us have said, leading up to surgery is much worse than the actual surgery itself.
I actually now believe that the maze surgery for someone under 60 is more than a lifestyle decision although that is a big factor. When you consider the worry about drug side effects, stroke risk, a weakening heart with time and then some quality of life, the decision becomes a little easier. Now, all of this is easy for me to say now that I am successfully cured. Evaluate everyone's input and trust yourself. Whatever you do will be right for you.