The cardioversion didn't work.

[acelightning]

I had Babs Bunny by my side, but they wouldn't allow me to play music on my phone. They kept increasing the power, but they still couldn't get my heart rhythm to stabilize. Now my cardiologist wants to do more tests, and he also brought up the subject of "ablation" - that's a procedure where they use electricity to burn out the conductive pathways

Comments

[jenny_evergreen]

:(

[acelightning]

Thanks, luv!

[elfs]

That sounds awful. I hope... I mean, what's the prognosis? The muscles is okay, but the electrical signals are messed up, right?

[acelightning]

There's no prognosis right now; the cardiologist wants to do a bunch more tests. The heart muscle is weakened - I have congestive heart failure. This often causes atrial fibrillation (an arrythmia in the heart chamber called the "atrium". Both of these problems make me weak and tired a lot, because the heart isn't pumping as efficiently as it needs to, and my muscles and brain aren't getting a consistent blood supply. Apparently ablation is nearly as well tolerated and as effective as cardioversion, but the cardiologist can't tell me what he intends to do until he gets a lot more information about exactly what's going on with my heart.

Incidentally, "long time no see". Glad you're participating again!

[baldoldog]

Please let me know how you’re doing. What does this mean and what is the next step? Email if necessary- very worried about you, A.

[acelightning]

Read what I said to elfsternberg above. Instead of Monday's cardioversion "curing" my arrhythmia and making me feel stronger, I just got told I need a lot more diagnostic testing, some of which may be uncomfortable and possibly slightly dangerous. Once the cardiologist determines what's wrong, I may progress to RF ablation (no problem there, I'm not only The Woman Who Made Friends With Electricity, I've been working with RF all my life). I'm slightly less upset now that the disappointment and frustration are wearing off. And I don't see the doctor again until the end of this month, which will give him a chance to look at the most recent literature and decide whether there's some new whiz-bang hi-tech treatment that will make me as healthy as I was 40 years ago (when I was 30), especially if he can charge me more for the procedure. I was just hoping I would feel like going out dancing this weekend or something :-(

And thanks for your concern, old friend!

[spiffikins]

I'm so sorry that the news was not what you had hoped!

I hope your cardiologist is able to come up with a good option - ablation sounds scary, but if it works and is effective, I hope they can do it!

[acelightning]

Ablation appears to be as safe, effective, and well tolerated as cardioversion. I just wonder where are the little nanobots they would inject into my bloodstream that would scurry around inside my body, making all the necessary repairs, chiseling out the "plaque" in my arteries, adjusting the filtration performed by my kidneys, convincing my cells to utilize insulin properly, turning up my metabolic rate so I become slim and active, and maybe even making my hair follicles produce a purple pigment so I don't need to keep using hair dye. I mean, this is the 21st century, so I ought to be living in the future, right?

[spiffikins]

I agree - the future is sadly lacking in many ways!

[scarybaldguy]

Fffff...

[acelightning]

Why is medical treatment so expensive when they can't even get it right?