Posted by Tim Hawkins on April 17, 2002 at 07:31:28:
In Reply to: 13 days to surgery posted by Michelle Dobbins on April 09, 2002 at 18:06:23:
Michelle,
I am now 19 days post Maze. Dr. McCarthy did my mini Maze on Mar. 29. I also had ablation done in March of 2000. A few days later I was back in flutter and in for a second ablation. It was about 3 months later that I went into afib for the first time without any flutter. The fast and even flutter never came back but afib came on like gangbusters. None of my doctors thought that I should have the Maze. When I said that I wanted this thing fixed once and for all with the procedure that had to best odds of doing that then they started to support me for insurance purposes. Without insurance I probably would not have had the Maze. I agree with what you read on this web site. The Maze is a really good operation and the CC is one of the best. Dr. McCarthy told me - when I talked to him before the Maze, that my chances for a full cure were 98% because I had no other heart problems. I was one of the lucky ones and found out that I had no blockage in coronary arteries. If I was unlucky - and fell in the 2% group I could still be cured with a procedure to ablate the foci that would then be located on top of scare tissue. That sounded like odds of 100%. I am feeling good about everything and would always recommend McCarthy and the CC. I met 2 heart transplant patients that told me Dr. McCarthy was one of the best 2 or 3 heart surgeons in the world! He does a lot of transplants.
For your information, after reading his report I found that I was actually on the bypass machine for only 45 min. Is he fast or what?
If I can answer any questions for you please email me.
Tim