Cardiac Ablatio

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum glad to have found it/you...
I am 44 yrs well soon to be 45 on the 17th of Nov.
I thought I would share my story with you. It all started with pvc's and pvc's ,I tried different Medications for them which I did not tolerate at all,Flecadine and Toperal XL gave me terrible side effects. My fingers and tongue went numb,I thought I was having a stroke , but what was happening it dropped my blood pressure. My blood pressure runs low as it is.
My Cardiologist decided I would be better off seeing an Electrocardiographs to undergo an Ablation...so that's what I did.
On May 24th 2012 just a little over 5 months ago I went in for my ablation, I was reassured I had nothing to worry about, cardiac ablations are done all the time. Of coarse I was still nervous about the procedure.
I arrived at the hospital at 7:00am my Husband and Son took me for my ablation. Around 8:00am. they took me back and prepped me for the procedure. My Husband and Son came back to see me off , they gave me a kiss and said you'll do fine and it will be done before you know it. I still had a uneasy feeling about the procedure.
And I was wheeled back for my ablation, I was put on the table arms strapped down all of the pads and electro pads were placed on my chest .
My Dr. came in and started the procedure, putting the sheaths in my groin areas 1 in the left and 2 in the right that part was a little uncomfortable. Then he starter the procedure the burning ofrm the ablation was a little painful, at one point during the ablation I complained to the Doctor that the burning in my heart/ chest was very bad he reassured me I was fine, close your eyes and relax he said. I must have passed out then, I'm not sure how long I was passed out for, I woke up in a panic I yelled to the Doctor something is wrong,I'm having a heart attack,I remember the Doctor saying did her sheaths come out? He replied to the other Doctor and nurse's , I'm done burning this shouldn't be happening.
The room switched into complete panic mode to save my life.
I remember before I passed out again , I yelled I need a bed pan I can't hold my pee,when you have a heart attack you have to urinate with no control of it. By this time all of the medical staff that were taken care of me during my ablation were now all behind the observation glass. I was rushed out to the Cath Lab and the Cath Doctors and nurses took over my procedure to save my life. I remember a young male nurse put aspirin in my mouth in a panic and said chew these up net nitro's were put under my tongue.Then they wanted to me to sign a consent for dye to be put in to see what was going on with my heart ,last thing I remember someone saying she can't sign take it out to her husband.
Then that was it ,I woke up hours later in ICU,where I was told I had a Heart attack.
During my heart attack my electro Dr went out to the waiting room to see my Husband and son, he told my husband the procedure went well.....but she's having a heart attack and we don't know why, my husband was shocked he said is she going to be ok? The doctor said by the grace of god she will.
What happened during my ablation the heat transferred to my LAD which closed it off 100% and I had a widow maker heart attack ,now I have 2 stents in my heart and to be honest the whole ordeal has been a pain in the ass. I still have pvc's and pac's, ya know whats funny, well not really,my doctor came in to see me 2 days after my heart attack while I was still in the icu, he apologized to me over and over ,then he said I was the second case that this has ever happened to. Then in his next breath he said I can have a second ablation in a couple months.....no thank you.
I have been feeling terrible ever since that day back in May.
I now have a new cardiologist .Now I feel like my heart is pushing into my esophagus ,so I will be having a T.E.E that is where they place a scope down your throat to view the heart. My new Doctor wants to see if anything else was damaged during the heat transferring to my LAD,he wants to make sure I don't have an aortic dissection.
Other than that I hate the heart meds,plavix couldn't tolorate,effient couldn't take either, now I'm on brilinta.
Sorry to have babbled on .....wanted to share my story.Thanks for listening WELL reading.
Karen

karen elizabeth

Hello and welcome to HealingWell.  Thank  you for sharing your story and you certainly have a right to be scared and worried about any other damage that may have happened second degree to your heart attack. Catheter ablation is generally safe however it does come with the risk of a heart attack and I am sorry to read that this happened to you.

I understand how you went into the procedure with hope that all would be find only to be dealt a nasty deal.  I am glad you are still here talking with us today.

I had  major abdominal surgery is August and I read and signed all the forms knowing that on occasion things do go wrong during procedures or surgeries.  Never in my dreams did I think that after surgery I would not be able to breathe on my own as I have no lung disease or breathing problems.  But there I was on a ventilator and the Drs. were unable to wean me off the ventilator because I did not breathe on my own.  24 hours post-op I was sent uptown to one of the big hospitals and went straight to a pulmonary intensive care unit. My medical history now includes, "Respiratory failure,  post-op"

Like you, I am not standing at the front of the line for any type of procedure that may cause respiratory failure again but if I need to have surgery to save my life - I guess I would choose the surgery as I am a gambling gal.

Sending you lots of healing hugs and hope all goes well for you.

Kindly,

Kitt