Ectopic Atrial Tachycardia
d_thomas02
Posts: 9,055 Member
My wife goes in to the hospital in two and a half hours for a heart ablation to remedy her Ectopic Atrial Tachycardia.
Doc says three possible sites normally trigger this. Two he can fix during this procedure. The third, he'll pull out and wait for her to recover in order to have another consult as she may need a pacemaker if he ablates that area.
We both have been eating through our nervousness.
Doc says three possible sites normally trigger this. Two he can fix during this procedure. The third, he'll pull out and wait for her to recover in order to have another consult as she may need a pacemaker if he ablates that area.
We both have been eating through our nervousness.
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Thank you for the link... I'd never heard of that before... Wow!
Positive thoughts & energy headed your way!!
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Sending up some positive thoughts for the best outcome.1
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Six hours in the pre-op waiting room, four hour in surgery (75 - 90% chance of successful outcome), two hours in recovery at this time (four more flat on her back before she can move around freely), she is currently in a normal heart rhythm, Doc is holding her overnight on monitors, but he is cautiously optimistic that her tachycardia has been corrected but wants to wait until morning before high fives.
She had two issues overlaying each other making the diagnosis a difficult one. He found the spot in the atrial wall causing the majority of extra beats fairly quickly and burned it, but she was still throwing a stray beat every fifth or so of normal rhythm.
Doc explained the second issue as the heart having an "antenna" that catches the starting trigger for the heart beat. Some people are born with a second "antenna". She had three. He "clipped" the two redundants ones.
Expecting her to be released in the morning.6 -
Sounds like the best of all solutions. I've never heard of heart antennas.1
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I'm sure that was an oversimplification for my laymen ears.
He could have been referring to the atrioventricular node.
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Sorry for the late update.
Doc saw her just before 8 AM yesterday. No issues at all overnight, just a normal sinus rhythm with no extra beats at all. He's signed the release papers and she'll have a follow up in 2 weeks. We were released just before noon. She had to stop at Schlotsky's for an original sandwich on the way home (same thing she did while in labor with out first on the way to the hospital). She dozed most of the day and then had a good night.
She says its crazy insane how good she feels now. A little sore at the incision sites, but that is to be expected.
Back to work for me this morning.7 -
Schlotsky's sammich would make me feel good too! lol1
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d_thomas02 wrote: »She says its crazy insane how good she feels now. A little sore at the incision sites, but that is to be expected.
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My wife went for her post heart procedure checkup. News was not as good as we had hoped. Here is a snippet from her text to me.
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So not the greatest news. Something is still causing some weirdness (negative p waves which is not good) and he thinks it is because they couldn't trigger it because I was too far under anesthesia. He was disappointed and of course I am too but he feels that a second EP study with light sedation will get it. And it should be able to be done over this summer. I'm still running high so he thinks it might be yet another pathway (which is really rare) or just another cluster that needs to be ablated. They just had a patient cancel and he said could give that spot to me so I'm scheduled for another EP study on June 17. [Sigh.] He offered to refer me to a trusted EP friend in St. Louis for fresh eyes on the problem but I would rather stay with him.
He also said the top and bottom parts of my heart are not coordinated well and thus not working together.
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She also mentioned that he wants to use a new more flexible catheter that had just come out as the spot on her heart is difficult to reach with the current ones. These new ones aren't suppose to be available until sometime in July but he is hoping to get one for her procedure. If he can't, they will postpone the procedure until he has one in hand.4 -
We will keep you in our thoughts @d_thomas02. Let's assume that it's just one more lap, and that will take care of things. I know you're there for her, and that's probably the best thing there is.1
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We will keep you in our thoughts @d_thomas02. Let's assume that it's just one more lap, and that will take care of things. I know you're there for her, and that's probably the best thing there is.
^^
Sending up some positive thoughts for the best outcome on her next round of treatments.1 -
Here's hoping your wife gets a positive outcome on the next treatment.1
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Good luck to you and yoir wife David1
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Thank you all.0
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Thank you for the update. Thoughts & positive energy sent!!1
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7:28 am - Through admissions and already in the second pre-op waiting room. Waiting on her blood samples to process before they move her into the OR.
7:55 am - Just took her into the OR. I'll get updates every couple of hours.
10:02 am - First update. The doc has finished mapping and ready to insert the catheter. Things are proceeding smoothly and Leslie is resting comfortably.
11:33 am - Second update. They burned the area causing the tachycardia and are waiting to see if it was a good burn or if they need to give the spot another zap. Nurse said doc should be out to talk with me in 30-45 min.
12:06 pm - Talked with doc He has a definitive diagnosis; she has "Permanent junctional reciprocating tachycardia (PJRT). Pretty rare. (ETA: All "permanent" meant was that the tachycardia didn't come and go. She had it all the time. Note past tense. He burned the area causing the PJRT, hard. )
He is certain he has ablated the area to the best of his equipments capabilities.
She'll be going into recovery soon and should be released in 5 or 6 hours
His plan, if... emphasis "if"... the tachycardia recurs, is to send her to St. Louis where they can do more burns on the outside of the heart.
2:38 pm - Just saw Leslie in post-op. She still has a couple of hours flat on her back before they consider letting her move about. Still waiting on a private recovery room. I'm now back in the surgery waiting room.
3:52 pm - Been in a private room for about 30 minutes. Just had an EKG, nurse said its showing a normal sinus rhythm. Waiting for doc to concur and sign the discharge papers.
4:02 pm - Discharge papers have been signed!
5:00 pm - Heading home.4 -
That all sounds very positive!1
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One day at a time... Thank you for the update...1
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Great news! Does your wife dive with you? If so, will this get her back in the water?0
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She doesn't dive. But she is interested in getting certified sometime in the unspecified future, after the kids have left the nest.
Her follow up is in four weeks, but I don't think she'd have any restrictions on diving as long as she remains in a normal sinus rhythm.2 -
Followup EKG traced a normal sinus rhythm. Doc said once these thing are kicked they stay kicked and he released her from the clinic. No additional followups.
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Yippee!1
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d_thomas02 wrote: »Followup EKG traced a normal sinus rhythm. Doc said once these thing are kicked they stay kicked and he released her from the clinic. No additional followups.
Woot woot!! That's excellent news!!1
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