Detailed ablation story!

I had my first ablation yesterday and thought I'd share. It's pretty long but I wanted to be as detailed as possible because I wanted details before my surgery so hopefully this helps someone! :)

Checked in at 6am. Met the nurses and signed all of the consent forms. Was given a gown to change into.

Around 6:30 am, the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about any allergies, health conditions, previous surgeries etc. He warned me that the surgeon needed me to be awake for the first half of the procedure and possibly the whole time. I asked if I would be given anything for anxiety because I was worried about panicking and he said they can't because they need my heart to be fully alert to be able to trigger tachycardia/SVT and locate the pathway(s).

At 7, the nurse started my IV's. Yes, plural. One in each arm. One for the anesthesiologist (pain meds, anesthesia etc) and one for the surgeon (adrenaline, stuff to play with my heart rate). Needles have never bothered me so it was fine! They also did a quick EKG.

Around 7:30 I was greeted by the surgeon, who is also my cardiologist, and wheeled back to the operating room. I was very nervous while being wheeled back, but once we got into operating room I got kind of excited because of the big fancy machines (I love medical stuff). Also, everyone was very welcoming and excited which made me feel good.

The first thing they did was have me scooch over onto the operating table. Then, they stuck a bunch of patches/stickers all over me - 38 to be exact. Next, they checked that I was completely shaved down there (thighs, top of pubic area). I knew they had to shave me so I did it at home the night before. Saved them some work and me some dignity lol. Then, they put a diaper type thing in between my legs and under my butt to catch any accident I may have and any extra soap/water. They proceeded to scrub my upper legs area with blue soap/water. After that, they applied the drape. It covered my whole body except for a small area on each leg (for the catheters) and my face of course.

Then I laid there for about 10-15 minutes waiting to start. Everyone was so friendly. They asked what kind of music I like and we all joked around the whole time. There's a giant screen with my EKG, an ultrasound of my upper legs, my vital signs etc. A big collage of stuff. Cool to see!

Around 8 the surgeon came in and read my information to the room and confirmed what we were going to do. Then he got started! First was the numbing (lidocaine) into my right leg. I don't want to scare anyone, but this was absolutely the worst part of the whole thing. So painful. The initial poke was fine (like a normal shot) but they have to get it in there deep so he was digging around with the needle and I was gripping the sheets for dear life. The anesthesiologist administered some pain meds to help (fentanyl). It took a few minutes to kick in so I felt the entire process on the right leg. (the lidocaine which was probably 2-3 minutes of poking, then inserting the little tube things into the artery for the catheter to go through later). Then he did the same process on the left leg which I still felt but not nearly as bad.

After that, he went back to the right leg to insert the first catheter up to my heart. I couldn't feel it traveling through my body which was nice but it felt like I was having skipped beats/PVCs. I said "ope, I think I'm having some PVC's or something" and he said "that's just the catheter traveling". I'm used to all kinds of weird beats so this was fine.

Then he triggered tachycardia (not sure how) and they started locating the pathway. It only took him like 30 seconds to trigger the tachycardia and find the first pathway! (They found a second one later on)

To my surprise, the anesthesiologist told me he'd put me to sleep now if I'd like. I shouted "yay!" And everyone laughed. I did not want to be awake for the burning even though I have heard it's not too bad.

The anesthesiologist had me take some deep breaths of oxygen and I watched my o2 go up from 97 to 100! Then he administered the propofol. Ahhh sweet relief.

I regained slight consciousness around 9:45am to them pulling the tube out of my throat. Don't worry, the only thing I felt was the drool that went all over my face after they pulled it out, lol.

They wheeled me to the anesthesia recovery room and a nurse sat near me the whole time to keep an eye on my vitals. They told me I had to lay down for 3 hours to allow the sites to close up. My groin & my chest didn't hurt at all thankfully but my throat did and I had to pee so bad. The first thing I said was "I have to pee SO bad". The nurse placed a pure wick down there (cotton type tube placed in the front crack down to the buttcrack to catch pee).

Now for the second worst part of this experience - my urethra muscles wouldn't release due to the anesthesia. Being so full of urine and not being able to release it was like torture. I couldn't think about anything else. (but don't worry - this isn't a super common experience)

At 10:45am, after an hour in anesthesia recovery, they wheeled me back to my ICU recovery room and brought my family back in. 2 more hours of laying flat to go!

At 11:30 the surgeon came in to go over the results of my surgery (everything went well), and my recovery instructions (no sex for 7 days, be very slow on the stairs, no lifting more than 10 pounds etc)

At 12:30pm I finally peed! It was the most euphoric relief lol.

At 12:45pm the nurse checked my sites and I got up and walked a lap around the unit. She said since everything is looking good she'd get my discharge paperwork started! At 1:30pm we signed the papers and got to leave! I was very glad I didn't have to stay overnight.

Recovery so far: 7pm that night I got an intense migraine with blind spots in my vision. I laid down in the dark and it went away within 3-4hrs. Probably caused by the anesthesia. My sites and heart still haven't been sore, yay! Just my throat from the intubation. No other side effects thankfully :)

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope it helped you if you're nervous or taught you something if you're curious. Feel free to ask any questions if I missed something :)