Jeff Hopes for a Healthy New Year

For Jeff, the year was pretty tough. His heart disease has caused him much distress. He currently suffers from atrial fibrillation and irregular heart beats. The irregular heart beats have been going on since he was in his 30's and has been controlled with beta blockers. On an angioplasty follow-up, his cardiologist found the atrial fibrillation. It was suggested that Jeff have a cardioversion which is a procedure where the heart is stopped and shocked so that when it starts back up, the rhythm is corrected. It takes 15 minutes under general anesthetic. So he had the cardioversion and it didn't work. The arrhythmia specialist basically said he would have to stick with medication to manage the problem. And the problem is that if the arrhythmia is not corrected, blood can pool up in the heart, clot, and go to the brain. The medication to help is a blood thinner to make sure clots can't form.

The medication has terrible side effects. Unfortunately, we found out firsthand. On a Saturday afternoon in March, Jeff was in such terrible pain that we went to the ER. He was bleeding internally. After a two day hospital stay, he was released on the same medication. We followed up with his cardiologist who suggested a different arrhythmia specialist. This one was much better than the last. He said he could help and explained that the cardioversion should be done with a combination of medication to keep him out of atrial fibrillation. So Jeff had another cardioversion in April which didn't work.

It is always best to start with the least invasive procedures before moving to the tougher stuff. So the cardioversion was the first step of the journey. Now the doctor was suggesting more invasive measures. Jeff would undergo a cath ablation. Through catheterization, the doctors will map out the electrical system in his heart, then ablate the areas that are causing the irregular beats. This is a 5 - 6 hour procedure and he had it done in May. The a-fib was gone, but the blood thinners had to continue for a few months after the procedure.

In late summer, Jeff had a spill on his bike. Instantly, he was bleeding internally from the knees all the way down his legs. While recovering, his legs were stiff and because of it, he bumped into a rail causing more internal bleeding. During this time, he had his follow-up with the cardiologist where he discovered that the atrial fibrillation was back. The atrial fibrillation specialist called and told him to get into the office as soon as possible.

Another cath ablation was scheduled for December. The procedure was different this time. The first time, he went into a-fib while in the hospital. This time he never went into a-fib. Now just to make things clear, we knew it was not uncommon to go through these procedures more than once so it was really wishful thinking that it would be cleared up earlier but all these internal bleeding episodes were a major cause of distress. So now he waits to have a follow-up visit and prays for nothing more than no more a-fib so he can get off the blood thinners. The first follow-up is scheduled in January and the time frame to stop the blood thinners is March. So he need to be careful not to slip, fall, or bump into things for now.

So we hold our breath and hope...