Then they took me to the cath lab. They asked me whether I could shift from my bed to the table myself or needed help. I thought about it and remembered that I’m basically healthy and strong, so I shifted over myself.

The nurses started their work. They attached big ground electrodes to my back just in case they had to use the defibrillator, then covered me with warm blankets because I was shivering. They laid out sterile dressings around my neck and groin. I didn’t like the local anesthetic injections, but they were over quickly. Between the anesthetic and the sedation I was very comfortable: when they inserted the catheter sheaths, I felt only tugging, but no pain.

The procedure itself went smoothly and well. I remember bits and pieces of the procedure itself. The nurse running the sedative protocol roused me four times to show me pictures, and once to ask me whether I was comfortable. (The plan was that she would later ask me if I remembered any of them.) Sometimes I’d open my eyes and look around, then go back into my comfortably numb mind-space I just took a long nap accompanied by my Enya tape. No big deal.

The doctors ablated two separate accessory pathways in my heart. According to my chart, I complained that I felt a burning sensation during the ablation. That must have been a very interesting sensation, but I don’t remember it. The chart also said I had the hiccoughs. Amnesia of this kind is a normal result of the sedative.

They let me listen to my tape throughout the procedure. Afterwards, they moved me from the table to my bed; I wasn’t in much of a position to help other than to roll onto my side. The battery in my Walkman began to run down in the holding room after the procedure, so I turned it off. As I lay in the after-surgery room, I thought to myself, wow. It’s over.

Then an orderly rolled me to the Cardiac Care Unit to recover.

Next: Recovery

Catheter Ablation for Tachycardia: My Experience as a Patient. Revised: 11/09/2001
URL: http://www.timberwoof.com/surgery/index.shtml
Copyright ©1998, 1999, 2001 by Michael Roeder. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use or distribution of any text, photos, or artwork from this website, without the express written permission of the owner, is in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws.
The author is a software engineer, not a physician. This web site is not intended to give any medical advice, render any diagnosis, or recommend any course of treatment. This web site has not been reviewed by any doctor. Your experience may differ from the author’s. If you have any heart symptoms, see your doctor.