Post Ablation Update

We arrived at Beaumont Royal Oak at 10am this morning. After checking in at the registration counter we headed up to the 8th floor central tower to the same waiting room as his other procedures - Schlafer Cardiology Center. They took Sam back right away to start his prep and came for his mom, dad and I to go see him after he was ready. They had taken blood work in the prep area and his potassium was elevated to 5.9 (a normal range is 3.2-5). Dr. Wong was concerned and ordered a redraw of his blood work. If Sam were to be under anesthesia and they were ablating with the elevated potassium level it could cause a lethal level of arrhythmia issues (his words not mine). After 7 pokes and 3 nurses the anesthesiologist was able to get his 2nd blood draw for his potassium level. It came back normal and at Noon they whisked him away to start. 

Around 3pm one of the nurses Kathy came out to update us - They had incubated him at 12:15pm and made it to the left side of his heart (again this wasn't an easy task and took about 30-40 minutes) and started to map out the left side. Dr. Wong was going to start ablating the heart using his 3D mapping while she was out talking to us.

[Image is of a heart being mapped... I couldn't obtain Sam's specifically but this google one gives a good idea]

At 7pm a familiar face came in to update Sam's mom, his cousin Jeff (in from Florida) and myself. It was Ann, the same nurse that we dealt with in May and it felt like deja vu. As like May, we were the last family in this waiting room and she was coming to give us an update and let us know it would still be a few hours... Dr. Wong had triggered Sam's heart into Atrial fibrillation/flutter and was trying to get it under control by continuing to ablate the left side of his heart where the hot spots were active. The spots that he ablated on the left in May were now active - hence causing this disruption in his heart. Again this is very common to have to undergo two ablations to get the actual arrhythmia issues corrected. Ann also mentioned that they are being very careful around his esophagus - as when they are ablating it can get too hot and they do not want a hole to form in his esophagus. 

At 8pm Ann came back out and said they have ablated the left side of Sam's heart and have now gone back over to the right side to map it to ensure that the flutter/fibrillation that should be corrected on the left goes to the right to become active. They did notice while mapping that the original ablation areas on the left are still doing great but they did find some activity in the top part of his right side that Dr. Wong was addressing. 

At 10:30pm Dr. Wong finally came in to see Sam's mom and I and talk about the procedure. After 10 hours Sam is in the recovery room and we are waiting to see him.. Dr. Wong said they spent most of their time on the left side of his heart  but he feels confident he got all of the signals. Dr. Wong even tested Sam's heart after completing the left side to ensure arrhythmia issues wouldn't occur after all the work he had just completed. However, while working on the heart he found something mysterious (he is really using some crazy words today)... all of a sudden his right atrium went into atrial flutter. It was very difficult to detect as it didn't appear in the same circut that they corrected in May (and it should have). However, After corrected and triple checking both sides he couldn't get it to replicate again - hopefully its left his heart for good!

I have filled my day with day time TV in the waiting room, stalking facebook, pinterest, work emails, texting/talking on the phone with friends/family, coloring and visitors... what a long day! Just counting down until I can see Sam and talk to him... more to come tomorrow!