Posted by Tim Johns on May 18, 2001 at 10:15:23:
After eight years of AF I have for the first time come across the "AF community" on the Web and learned sometng about the Maze procedure.
When I was diagnosed as having AF some eight years ago I spent some three weeks in hospital while a variey of hypotheses were investigated as to the origin of the condition. For some time the most popular was Chagga's Disease (I had been bitten by a large insect while in the South of Brazil) which caused much ilarity among the medical students who came to interview me. In time, however, all tests proved negative: after I was discharged my cardiologist wrote to my GP with the diagnosis, both inventive and improbable, that the AF was the result of alcohol abuse.
Since discharge I have been kept going on a combination of drugs: warfarin (in the US coumadin), digoxin, verapamil etc. but have been conscious of a slow but steady deterioration in my condition (fatigue, difficulty in walking etc.) and the development of other, associatied conditions: heart failure, hypertension, varicose eczema & diabetes. The possibility of reversing the AF by means of the Maze procedure is thus very interesting indeed. I'm 64 years old. I doubt whether Maze is available under our National Health Service (does anyone have any information on this?), and like most Brits don't have health insurance, but could probably find the cost of the operation (and travel and stay in the USA if necessary)from savings.
Your comments would be most welcome!