I've been ablated!

Tomorrow will mark one month since I had my cardiac ablation.  The surgery took twice as long as my EP cardiologist had originally predicted (a total of 10 hours) and the team of specialists was surprised by how difficult it was to induce my vtach.  After they finished the 3D mapping of my right ventricle, I was taken off sedation and was awake for a number of hours while they pumped me full of epinephrine and used other methods to race my heart to mimic what occurs when I exercise in an effort to induce the tachycardia.  It was an incredible experience and I loved having an active role in the procedure.  I was able to sense when my heart was about to misfire and was able to inform my cardiologist before any sensors picked it up.  I could also tell when a particular method to race my heart was no longer working (it was like my heart figured out that I wasn't really exercising and would stop acting up).  At one point the anesthesiologist suggested to the team that I was starting to go into shock and should be put back under.  I vividly remember the sweat pouring down my face, shaking uncontrollably, and looking my cardiologist directly in the eye and saying, "I'm fine, keep going!"  My biggest fear was being woken up later and told they didn't have enough data and weren't able to do perform the ablation.  That would have meant a lifetime on meds with very little chance of them repeating the procedure.  Thankfully I had the right surgeon.  He was intrigued by my case and was aggressive and persistent.  He didn't care that they had to spend an extra 5 hours in the operating room.  He was able to narrow it down to 2 problem areas in my right ventricle and performed 22 burns.  In the end he said I ran the equivalent of a marathon with the amount of stress we put my heart under.  There are no words to express how incredibly grateful I am to Dr. Stuglin and his team for their persistence in treating my RVOT-VT.

The recovery has gone remarkably well.  At the 2-week mark I started running again and tonight I will play my first soccer game.  I will have to undergo testing in another month and if all continues to go well, Dr. Stuglin can officially declare me cured at the 3-month mark.  He quoted me an 80% chance of that being the case.  The main issue is whether my heart will find another way to misfire.  If this happens, a 2nd ablation will have to be performed, but the odds will then be very good for a cure.  So far things seems to be ok.  I can tell when I would be having really bad days as I still get the sensation when my heart is about to misfire.  Only it doesn't.  It maintains a regular rhythm.  It's a bizarre sensation.  Fingers crossed things continue to go well! 

With my 3 "reasons" on Mother's Day

The awesome cake Pete had made