An update - 31 Oct 2023

 Hello dear reader (there is probably only one of you!)


Well after my triumphal return to 'competition' in March I got fitter and fitter...

Until I went camping in Wales and returned with my first bout of Covid - it wasn't too bad - worse than a cold, not as bad as the flu, but it was three weeks of training wiped out.  I just started training again when I went on holiday (it's a tough life being married to a teacher!) and when I got back I managed to fall while running and sprain my ankle - so that was six weeks without any running!

Started again (all on the road which is killing my knees) with an accelerated version of Couch-to-5k but the very next week caught a nasty cold.  Managed two weeks running before a hiking trip to the Lake District and so I have just started the running yet again.  It feels like two steps forward and one step back (or sometimes three steps forward, four steps back!).

In the meantime, however, I am having vision problems - I have a coloured halo around bright lights at night (common in those taking Amiodarone) and during low sun days it is as if everything is "steamed up".  Optician not bothered but Papworth have again stressed they are not happy with me being on Amiodarone long-term.

Finally, after chasing, I got an appointment with my EP.  It was on the phone, sadly, but he's a great bloke and answered all my myriad questions.  To be blunt, he totally disagrees with my local hospital cardiologist (see last post) and feels the long-term side-effects of amiodarone in someone of my age are too risky.  He explained that I no longer have Atrial Fibrillation, but my three hospitalisations since the third ablation all showed 'just' Atypical Atrial Flutter.  Atypical refers to it being in the Left atrium rather than the right.  My understanding of it is that it is a side-effect of the ablation(s) - a sort of missed bit that is still misfiring.  Because this is something different he thinks it is worth trying a fourth ablation (Noooooo!) so I have reluctantly agreed to be on the waiting list.

Unlike all my other ablations this one is not urgent and he warned the waiting list will be 4-6 months.   A couple of weeks later I phoned Papworth and they estimated the wait at seven months at least!  So my thinking is, health permitting, I shall put it off to next Autumn so I can enjoy the School Summer hols first.  We shall see how it goes.

I'm definitely thinking about doing Park Run when I get some more fitness and then 10ks.  I'm even thinking about doing that cross-country marathon I missed through a cold back in 2019.....  just thinking so far...

I feel like I'm on borrowed time before this flipping fourth ablation messes me up for 4-12 months - sigh!


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