Catheter Ablation... The Joys

Past tense...
So to pick this blog up a bit more quickly and give it a bit of steam, luckily I have kept previous journals of my time in various hospitals and the joys they hold....


2009 - Catheter Ablation
Catheter ablation is an invasive procedure used to remove a faulty electrical pathway from the hearts of those who are prone to developing cardiac arrhythmia's such as atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, supraventricular tachycardia's (SVT) and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.
It involves advancing several flexible catheters into the patients blood vessels, usually either in the femoral vein, internal jugular vein, or subclavian vein. The catheters are then advanced towards the heart and high-frequency electrical impulses are used to induce the arrhythmia, and then ablate (destroy) the abnormal tissue that is causing it.

Tachycardia comes from the Greek words tachys (rapid or accelerated) and kardia (of the heart). Tachycardia typically refers to a heart rate that exceeds the normal range for a resting heart rate (heart rate in an inactive or sleeping individual). It can be dangerous depending on the speed and type of rhythm.

I'm lying in bed with my table up against me 3 hours returned from my procedure when a cleaning lady decides to smash her broom into the legs of my table almost knocking my coffee over. She looks up smiles and decides to have another go... this time knocking the cup over, luckily for here though its empty, 10 minutes earlier and she could have had a lawsuit on her hands. I think back to 3 hours ago in the theatre where perhaps there was less danger to my life...
As I get to the Hospital slightly beat from the traffic congested 3 hour ride up (its usually only 2 hours but unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who don't actually know how to drive, and decide to take detours into say, the central reservation) I look on my information sheet to see where in the Hospital I should be headed. As usual I spend half hour looking for the ward, after jumping from level to level (I don't like lifts so I have to take the stairs, regardless how many floors I must climb) I decide that I'm fucked enough and can't risk a coronary and head for the information desk.

SORRY - WE ARE CLOSED

Great, I check my info sheet and on closer inspection I find it actually gives directions, better yet I'm in the wrong building... TAXI!

I finally find the right place, check in with the receptionist and take a seat. I'm surrounded by old people, very old people, at least there is hope for me that I will live a long life. After a few minutes 3 of us are called by a nurse, we are each given locker numbers and disposable white gowns and undergarments. On a level it feels quite derogatory, like we're sheep being taken for slaughter and leaving as little mess as possible to clean up. The herd is then rustled into allocated cubicles, everything is so clean and white it gives an uneasy feel.
My patient number is read out and I'm led to a bed and left there, with me, and my thoughts. I think of the procedure, the current setting, my nervousness and unease...

'MR SMITH?'

A friendly sounding voice calls as it breaks my thoughts, I snap out of it and look up to see a nurse at the end of my bed smiling, it's like a deep release from the room (MORE). She runs through some standard questions, takes some tests and then my Doctor arrives. He's and extremely friendly man, he runs through the procedure with me while discussing with a Junior Doctor on how to enter me... yes, I gave a little laugh too and it seemed for a moment, to take the edge off.
Anyway, due to my height they decide to go through the groin, the other option is the neck but afterwards it can look a little well, unsightly.

After all the pleasantries I'm taken by a nurse and led into the theatre....

The room is like something out of a sci-fi film, huge contraptions fill the room. It's so white I'm surprised sun shades weren't provided as procedure, equipment is covered in see through plastic coverings, a single steel bed occupies the centre of the room and 6 large screens over look the it. There is a long glass window with around 4 technicians sitting amongst multiple screens.

I am invited to lie on the bed, multiple nurses begin to hook me up to numerous machines, my arms, legs and chest are all connected to various devices. I am then injected with the relative sedation.
My groin is then injected to numb the area and man, this hurts like fucking hell. The pain can only be described as an incredible sharp stab (like a knife) being thrust into my groin, the pain lasts for about 15 seconds... I grip the table, my body arches and I clench my teeth and hold back tears... FUUUUUUUUUUUU... Gone. Within a second it disappears, like it was never there.

The screen next to me are all showing different live pictures and information of my heart, heart rate, oxygen levels, continuous xrays, echocardiogram's...

They do the standard catheter procedure which lasts about 40 minutes (which is just to check all the arteries of the heart etc...)
They then move on to do the ablation. Before they can start zapping the inside muscle's of my heart they need to find out what is causing the tachycardia attacks (Where the heart rate goes up to about 200 beats a minute) To do this they need to bring up my heart rate, so they give it a little shock... Boom it shoots up, 200 beats a minute.. Wham Wham WhamWham... my chest is pounding. I like to the monitor's which one of displays the tiny catheter making its way around my heart (at least that's what I think it was)

After an hour I'm in agony, the pain in my chest is unbearable, I didn't know if this was normal or not, but anyway a nurse could see my discomfort and asked if I was alright... 'Yes, yes I'm fine, I have a tube being rammed up my leg, electric shocks are intermittently taking place in my heart and it is going about 200 beats a minute like it's going to explode out of my chest! But yes, I'm dandy....

I'm told to think 'happy thoughts'... Let me be honest, I'm not a 'happy thought' kind of guy, I have no special place, no field that I can see myself in. Bottom line is I'm in pain, it hurts and no thought process can overcome this, I want the drugs... Now.
I explain that I am in an exceptional amount of pain and drugs are administered.

Oh the drugs... My head goes light and my eyes get heavy, this is my happy place. Even with the morphine I still feel relatively aware although my sight is slightly unfocused and my speech is slurred. My mind wanders, I'm overcome with happiness and begin to mentally list the things I am thankful for, I feel a sense of excitement... It is obvious how people can become so addicted to this stuff.

I regain consciousness, the procedure took 6 hours.. thank god I was outers.

After drifting in and out of sleep I wake up in a room on the ward, its a good one too.. en suite! A nurse comes in and goes over a few things, she advises that I can get up and use the bathroom if I wish as it will help the blood flow etc...
So after she leaves I think why not, I pop out of bed and head for the men's. My groinal wound is all bandaged up and is pretty painful. As I'm stood there having a quick relief a voice calls out 'Andrew?' then a knock on the door... 'Andrew!' I quickly finish and reel it in as she comes bursting through the door.. 'What are you doing out of bed?' she practically screams. I try to explain that I was told to told but she doesn't listen as she shoos me back into bed....

Oh the joys