Re: update 8 and 1/2 months

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Posted by Carl Plaskett on July 21, 2002 at 19:58:35:

In Reply to: update 8 and 1/2 months posted by Claude hepworth on July 21, 2002 at 16:53:16:

Claude: You are an inspiration to not only Mazers, Those Thinking of It (or ablations), but those of us who don't want to be considered "old" because of the calendar!
It is distressing that cardiologists still "marvel at the success of the maze" and wish that "it was not so invasive". Would they hesitate to refer someone for valve repair/replacement or bypass surgery?

I consider the years of drug "therapy" to have been nothing less than "invasive" to my quality of life, which had become just about zero. The hope offered by the Cox Maze III was worth anything, including "invasive surgery", with a proven very low risk. Comparing that to the risk (and damage) being done to me by the drugs was a "no brainer.

"My FORMER cardiologist STILL thinks it is experimental and that only a "small number" have been done and fewer still which have "been successful". Your cardiologist is not alone in not bothering to familiarize himself with the facts about the Cox Maze, which are readily available in medical literature and on the internet. Instead, he should be using you as a example of how one CAN be CURED.

The good news is, that the Cox Maze is not too far from being nearly non-invasive (see my post of Dr. Cox's email of a couple of weeks ago). Only time will tell if cardiologists will still oppose the Maze when it does not require any cutting on one's heart or the use of a heart/lung machine. Perhaps then we will have a true picture of why so many resist "cures" for afib by opting for "treatment" with drugs and repeated office visits by those cursed by it.

Keep up the updates and contributions.

(Sorry about the doctor "bashing", Steve.)

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