Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...
"A-Fib.com is a great web site for patients, that is unequaled by anything else out there."
Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
"Jill and I put you and your work in our prayers every night. What you do to help people through this [A-Fib] process is really incredible."
Jill and Steve Douglas, East Troy, WI
“I really appreciate all the information on your website as it allows me to be a better informed patient and to know what questions to ask my EP.
Faye Spencer, Boise, ID, April 2017
“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD
After 18 years in A-Fib, Triathlete Mike Jones Asked, “Could I Be so Fortunate?”
In his A-Fib story, Mike Jones writes that he’d been a very physically active middle age man who competed in running, triathlons and handball. It was difficult for him to accept that “something was wrong”.
In fact, he had paroxysmal A-Fib episodes for at least three years before his official diagnosis. Over the many years, he had been on various drug therapies, but nonetheless, his A-Fib episodes become very debilitating. He shares:
“For many years, surgical intervention was out of reach, and financially out of the question for me. And, in those days, there was only the “Maze”. Along the way, I read a little bit about the Mini Maze, which did not inspire me much either.
It wasn’t until I found “A-Fib Resources for Patients” [A-Fib.com] that I began to take a real interest in researching PVI/PVA [Pulmonary Vein Isolation/Ablation] .”
Mike recalls the day after his life-changing catheter ablation:
“On the drive home the following afternoon, I thought about all those years that I had spent….with all of the drugs, and all of the depressing hours, with all of the sacrifices, and all of the fear…nearly 15 years of it.
Then, my long-awaited PVI procedure. In a 2 day period of time, with little discomfort (and within my budget!) all of that might now be behind me.
Could I be so fortunate?
I feel a little foolish now, a little sheepish, that I had made such a big thing out of getting this procedure done.”
Life After His Ablation
In the ten months following his ablation, Mike writes that he only had two episodes early on and that he continues to take soaks in Epson salts once a week to keep his magnesium levels up.
He writes about his life now that it is free of A-Fib:
“I do not take any blood thinners, and no heart medication whatsoever. In my 70’s now, I won’t be running any endurance races, and my conditioning level is too low for any serious handball (yet).
But my energy level is high enough that I live a very normal life. I am a hobby woodworker, and I typically spend anywhere from 4 to 6 hours a day in my shop. I walk, swim, cut wood, and, when nobody is looking…I dance.
“I walk, swim, cut wood, and, when nobody is looking…I dance.”
I understand that the A-Fibs might one day return, but I would have no hesitation in returning for a tune up if, or when, that day should ever arrive.”
―Mike Jones, Redding, CA, Now A-Fib free after an ablation using both CryoBalloon and RF methods
A-Fib is a Progressive Disease
It’s really remarkable that Mike could live in paroxysmal A-Fib for 18 years and not progress to Persistent or Longstanding Persistent A-Fib. In one study over half the people who developed paroxysmal A-Fib turned Persistent after only one year. Perhaps Mike’s athleticism and fitness kept his A-Fib from getting worse.
In most people, A-Fib is a progressive disease that remodels the heart and gets worse over time. To avoid this happening to you, aim to be A-Fib free as soon as you can.
For more about Mike, read his A-Fib story, Triathlete 18 years in A-Fib, on Amiodarone for eight years―then A-Fib free after ablation by Dr. Padraig O’Neill.
For more A-Fib stories to encourage and inspire you, go to Personal A-Fib Stories of Hope.
