Six Month Follow-up

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Posted by Ed Wehan on July 25, 2001 at 00:54:26:
As many of you know, the reason that I chose the maze procedure was to be able to beat my now six year old daughter in a running race. I am sorry to report that despite all efforts, I am still falling a little short. Her lean at the finish line is just unbeatable.
Having said this and as mentioned by Carl Plaskett in an earlier post, I did decide to test my January 10th maze procedure at the running of the Rose City (Portland,OR) 50 mile ultra race which is held on a fairly hilly course partially on trails surrounding the city of Portland. At just about six month post maze, I completed the race in 8 hours and 23 minutes finishing 3rd overall and first in my age group. For over 8 hours, I ran and my heart beat strongly and evenly. Even the two beers after the finish caused no concern. I guess this shows that for many of us, the maze procedure will endure and provide a comparable life to that which we enjoyed before we came down with the affliction known as AFib.
I now look back on my 14 years of living with atrial fibrillation and wonder why no physician could advise me of the option of curing myself of this malady. I understand the risks of the maze procedure, however small they may be, and when I compare them against those 14 years of drugs and their side effects, cardioversions, coumidin, monthly pro-times, risk of stroke and compressed physical activity, my decision to have this done was a no brainer (as Carl Plaskett would say).
I am now able to have beer when I choose to have it or a cup or two of coffee in the morning.
I am not here to tell anyone that there won't be some struggles with the maze. Psychologically, it is a tough decision to make. The recovery isn't always that easy but if at six months your life has returned, then the decision seems easy to me.

Follow Ups:

Re: Six Month Follow-up Paul Jenkins 15:07:00 7/29/2001 (0)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Anders Kingstedt 13:55:35 7/27/2001 (8)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Ed Wehan 00:49:06 7/28/2001 (7)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Carl Plaskett 13:36:17 7/28/2001 (6)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Steve Giddings 16:21:30 7/29/2001 (5)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Ed Wehan 00:13:08 7/31/2001 (0)

Re: Six Month Follow-up THOMAS C. GLASS 08:20:47 7/30/2001 (3)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Steve Giddings 09:26:50 7/30/2001 (2)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Carl Plaskett 10:10:54 7/30/2001 (1)

Re: Six Month Follow-up John W. Gross 12:13:27 7/30/2001 (0)

Re: Six Month Follow-up Jack Drum 23:43:09 7/26/2001 (0)

Re: Six Month Follow-up John Gross 11:46:53 7/26/2001 (0)

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