Post Ablation number Two - (APRIL - SEPT 2021)

Post Ablation number 2 (APRIL 2021)

So, this took place, once again as an urgency in April 2021.  You can read about the actual procedure on my other post.  I knew what I was up against this time and knew it would take MONTHS to feel better.  I didn’t bother to blog about it this time as I didn’t want to get repetitive.  But in fact, it took even longer to recover from than the first one.  Not surprising I suppose when the first procedure (cryo-ablation) took 1.5 hours and the second RF one took six hours!

Suffice to say, that generally my recovery was about a month behind where it was last time.  I took it far easier this time, I didn’t try and rush back to full fitness as that just exhausted me the time before.  In fact, in hindsight I reckon I was a bit slow to get going again and then suffered from lack of fitness and deconditioning.

 

I’m a gym instructor and fitness class teacher and so my GP signed me off for three months and then I took a month of annual leave, since I was lucky enough to accumulate so much.  It was during that month that I began to make real progress going from barely able to walk half-a-mile to walking five miles in one day (albeit slowly and with lots of sit-downs!). I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it is for a previously fit 57-year-old to be being overtaken by people in their 70s on a walk.  I kept thinking everyone must be thinking how feeble I was until my husband (ever the cool head) pointed out that nobody was actually taking the blind bit of notice as to what I was doing). 

I went back for a phased return to work in September.  I hadn’t wanted that as I felt I was fine, but I was shocked how hard it felt and how tiring it was!

 

I was barely back at work for two weeks when my two new helix piercing (in the cartilage of the upper ear) became infected!  I’d wanted them for ages and decided they could symbolise overcoming of the two ablations.  I was shocked when my GP told me to go straight to A&E and they told me the earring would have to be removed immediately (“But you can’t – they are symbolic...” I constantly bleated, like an idiot). I was then admitted (admitted!) for 48 hours of intravenous antibiotics!!!!!!  It appears that unless these things are treated quickly you can end up with a cauliflower ear! I also had to have an abcess drained which hurts like hell!

At the same time, I was reducing my drugs under instruction from Papworth hospital (we had tried in July but fast HR meant I had asked if I could defer it until after my holiday).  Once again, I started getting tachycardiac and as I was in hospital the ENT doctors were able to capture it on an ECG.  Papworth instructed me to stay on the tablets (flecainide) and that I may need to stay on them forever to control the arrythmias, which was okay with me.

Two weeks after that I had my annual flu jab and then it all went wrong again…. but more on that in my next post

 

Terminology

A&E                              UK’s Accident and Emergency department (same as ER in USA)

Papworth                     Royal Papworth Hospital – one of the UK’s premier cardiac hospitals, based in Cambridge, England.

 

HR                                 Heart rate

RF                                 Radio-frequency

ENT                               Ear, Nose and Throat

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recovery from ablation number FOUR

  Update January 2025 Well, progress was about the same for the other three ablations to begin with, although I was set back at least a week by all that drama in October (nearly died!   See my previous blog!!).   I was able to do things like Pilates and yoga a bit quicker than before but that may have been due to confidence rather than any physical recovery as such.   My walking was terrible as usual – it was nearly seven weeks before I managed to walk a mile which was several weeks slower than after the others which was really disappointing.   Instead, I used my electric bike a bit although progress was slow to begin with (as usual, sigh). After about 11 weeks though, my recovery just sped up.   I managed to walk two miles just 12 days after I finally conquered one; three miles came just six days later and four miles a few days after that.   And it felt much more like a normal speed than before.   I was thinking that I would soon be out on my...
Read more

A Layperson's look at Scientific papers about Afib and Exercise

A layperson’s look at 24 studies into exercise and Afib UPDATE - I added a few more at the end! I’m no scientist, but I have drawn together what I could find.   However, be sure to read the caveats at the end re the quality of some of the data plus an explanation of some terminology and abbreviations.  I tried hard not to be biased, but I'm only human so some may have crept in.  I also stopped at 24 studies because it was taking over my life!! 1.        1. Kunutsor et al 2021– Meta analysis of 23 cohort studies Excludes case controls; also excludes athletes or competitive or endurance sportspeople; quality of evidence low to medium; selection bias; lacks temporality ((i.e., lacks a link)) Most Physically active vs Least                    -1% risk of AF Men only              ...
Read more

Easter Update

  Hello, dear Reader I have now stopped the Amiodarone.  It's not as scary as it sounds as last time it took 5 weeks before I started getting fast heart rate.  So far I am only just over two weeks into those five. Even before that though, I had one of fast HR while mopping the floor.  Felt it straight away and was filled with dread but it ended after five minutes or less. Asked Papworth Hospital arrythmia nurses if I should still come off the drug and they said yes, that it was too toxic to stay on long-term and we wouldn't know if it had worked if I didn't stop it. My recovery has continued to go well.  I was able to increase my running quite substantially so I was running further than expected more quickly that I expected and gained fitness quicker than expected.  Exciting!  I think the whole recovery has just been easier this time (because they "didn't do much") and also I was doing weekly fast Nordic walks rather than just normal walking. Generally...
Read more