Had an ablation for Atrial Flutter never had A Fib. Although that's what I was being mistreated for. They are two different sections of the heart muscle. Took my Electrophysiologist a two second look at my EKG to figure that out. My heart was ticking away about 156 bpm. Flutter is from a loop of electrical impulses circling in the right atrium. Instead of dropping from the atrium to the ventricle.
Procedure is go in with a microwave wire and cauterize the errant loop returning the muscle back to normal sinus rhythm. After pre-op where the cardiac team charts all your hearts electrical pathways. Like looking at a circuit board. The Electrophysiologist comes in and sees the loop in the electrical impulses burns away a tiny bit to break up the errant loop and regular sinus rhythm is restored practically instantly. While he was adjusting the flutter, he also tried to induce AFib to check out any apparent onset of that area of my heart but was unable to do so. Which is a good thing.
You have a little piece in your heart called a LAA. Left Atrial Appendage. Looks kinda like a wind sock. Just hanging out there. Docs don't really know why it's there. Think of it like an appendix in your heart. Useless but can throw a big monkey wrench in to your ablation procedure.
All the time you have been dealing with your A Fib or Atrial Flutter 🍃.
When they have you on those despicable but necessary blood thinners it's because when your out of normal sinus rhythm your blood in your heart tends to pool because the beats are not normal and steady ejection fractions. And the bestest place to pool is in that little appendage of a sock just hanging out there ready to clot some blood. So they never know till the actual procedure If your LAA has a clot (Which it probably, will.) or not. So I did have a clot in my useless wind sock just hanging down in the heart. So that sets you back 4-6 weeks to get your clot to dissolve.
If you have ever been told of a procedure called a Watchman to get you off Blood thinners. What it is . It's an umbrella 🏖️. That goes over that LAA. That useless Left Atrial Appendage that's destination 1 for making clots in that wind sock where most clots would start to form in your heart.
So after the clot dissolved. Had the actual Ablation. The Electrophysiologist is only in there about half an hour.
After Ablation no pain no crazy heartbeats. After 6 months no more blood thinners. 🎉!
The guy doing the actual Ablation is the 🗝️ key! You ideally want to have the work done at a teaching hospital by the guy doing the teaching! Be particular who you let spelunking around your heart.
Do your homework. Research your providers. I wish you all. The best possible outcomes! Have the procedure. It's a miracle. Mine was one and done. I had my yearly checkup last week. Doc said call me if you need me! No more Appointments. It's natural to be apprehensive but be Proactive. Ablation works and works Well.
Learn and Live life Better!

I had it done a couple years ago and my heart is back to normal. My cardiologist explained that this may not work prior to the operation as well that it may not last. But it sure is nice being normal for now!

I had my ablation in October. The first 3 weeks after, my AFib was going crazy but since then I have had no episodes and starting to feel great again. I’m 74, had a fib and a flutter for 3 yrs prior to ablation, medication was no longer effective. To me ablation was definitely worth what little risk there was. Good luck to you!

Thank you Rodney for the hug.

I had it and it resolved the irregular rhythm in my heart. A truly amazing technology with a great result. No more pounding in my ears. God has nothing to do with a successful ablation. The doctor is especially trained and we need to trust their talent and capabilities. Do ask how many ablations they have performed and who will makeup your team. I was in and out in less than 10 hours.