HeatherZ99's Journal

I will be having my heart sugery on April 1, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. I have a wonderful group of friends who will be there at 5:30 a.m. and stay by my side through the whole thing but am still EXTREMELY nervous. The sugery alone is 4-8 hours and I will be awake for the whole freaking thing. They said I will not know what is going on but stilll....oh well just gotta let go and trust God which is kind of hard for me to do right now. If anyone of you are curious of the heart sugery I am getting...below is a explanation:

CARDIAC ABLATION

http://www.hrspatients.org/patients/treatments/cardiac_ablation.asp 

Normally, electricity flows throughout the heart in a regular, measured pattern. This normally operating electrical system is the basis for heart muscle contractions.

Sometimes, the electrical flow gets blocked or travels the same pathways repeatedly creating something of a “short circuit” that disturbs normal heart rhythms. Medicine often helps. In some cases, however, the most effective treatment is to destroy the tissue housing the short circuit. This procedure is called cardiac ablation.

The Ablation Process

Like many cardiac procedures, ablation no longer requires a full frontal chest opening. Rather, ablation is a relatively non-invasive procedure that involves inserting catheters – narrow, flexible wires – into a blood vessel, often through a site in the groin or neck, and winding the wire up into the heart. The journey from entry point to heart muscle is navigated by images created by a fluoroscope, an x-ray-like machine that provides continuous, “live” images of the catheter and tissue.

Once the catheter reaches the heart, electrodes at the tip of the catheter gather data and a variety of electrical measurements are made. The data pinpoints the location of the faulty electrical site. During this “electrical mapping,” the cardiac arrhythmia specialist, an electrophysiologist, may sedate the patient and instigate some of the very arrhythmias that are the crux of the problem. The events are safe, given the range of experts and resources close at hand, and are necessary to ensure the precise location of the problematic tissue.

Once the damaged site is confirmed, energy is used to destroy a small amount of tissue, ending the disturbance of electrical flow through the heart and restoring a healthy heart rhythm. This energy may take the form of radiofrequency energy, which cauterizes the tissue, or intense cold, which freezes, or cryoablates the tissue. Other energy sources are being investigated.

Patients rarely report pain, more often describing what they feel as discomfort. Some watch much of the procedure on monitors and occasionally ask questions. After the procedure, a patient remains still for four to six hours to ensure the entry point incision begins to heal properly. Once mobile again, patients may feel stiff and achy from lying still for hours.