Posted by Ed Wehan on October 14, 2002 at 16:23:55:
In Reply to: Open Question: WHY? posted by Dan on October 08, 2002 at 22:31:56:
Dan, I am delayed in responding as I just returned from a tough five day backpacking trip which I can tell you I could not have done two years ago pre-maze. Your question is "THE" question for most people considering the maze. It was in my mind and I read up on who had had the surgery and why they had it just to give myself a reality check. The maze seemed like the perfect cure but was I missing something? So, I can really appreciate what you are asking.
Quality of life is very obvious and has been mentioned by most of the very good posts listed prior to mine. But, just remember that quality of life doesn't necessarily mean being unable to run fast, or backpack or whatever, it also means not living a life of fear to what is happening to your heart as it beats erratically or fear of what the side effects of all the drugs you are taking are actually doing to your body. I believe that AFib is one of the most misunderstood health conditions that there is. Like you or many others, when I got AFib (I was 44 at the time) I was told that it was relatively benign and that I could live a somewhat normal life. The truth is that AFib is very debilitating. Your heart muscle weakens over time leading to possible cardiomyopathy. The risk of stroke is substantially higher and if you are put on a blood thinner then you have to avoid activities where impact is a factor. This may be as simple as a fall.
From what I've read once a person has AFib, they will always have it unless they do something. It is true there are triggers early on to avoid and there are drugs to take but eventually, almost always, they will fail. At some point, almost everyone has to deal with chronic AFib.
I am really pleased to see some of the recent posts on the increasing success of PVA's. I do think that this procedure's success occurs early in AFib and once AFib becomes chronic the success rate drops off significantly. I would now probably choose to try this if I had known about it (and it existed)early on when I had my AFib.
However, for many who are chronic or for those where the PVA doesn't work or isn't applicable, I would continue to argue for surgical intervention for reasons which include both quality of life and the dangers of AFib.
Finally, I mentioned above that like you, I asked the question why and searched for the answer. That is when I ran into this website (actually an earlier version)and met a lot of very nice people who told me their story and made me feel comfortable with my decision to have a maze. For this, I have Jack to thank. And, it was a good thing that I did find it so that I could beat Carl Plaskett to Cleveland and have my maze done first.
- Re: Open Question: WHY? Tim Hawkins 18:43:59 10/14/2002 (1)
- Re: Open Question: WHY? Ed Wehan 19:33:18 10/14/2002 (0)