Looks like I'm getting an ablation....scared
So I posted here, once, a few weeks ago.
The TL:DR is I'm an otherwise healthy, slightly overweight 41 year old whose brother died at 43 from ARVDCM with a likely genetic component. I've had every test under the sun since then, and recently developed PVCs.
I had a new cMRI this week, which showed no new scarring (yay!), but now my LV was slightly dilated, LVEF was 33%(calculated)/45%(visual estimate), and the report suggested possible Left Branch Bundle Block. (booo!)
Of course they just post the report to the portal late at night when you can't really talk your Dr. so I read this, had a panic attack, and started checking out the HeartFailure sub.....
After talking with my EP, long story short he thinks the LVEF calcs were flawed due to PVCs and they were flat wrong about the LBBB, which he has not seen on my EKGs or my Loop Recorder. This made me feel better, of course, but still scared as next I do a 12-lead in June and he pre-scheduled me for an ablation in July.
He seems to think that my PVCs are beginning to show up as slightly reduced function seen in the MRI, but ultimately PVCs are the root cause and function/structure would likely recover once eliminated. (PVC induced CM)
I like my EP and trust him, but I know he's just following the clues to the most likely cause, and he doesn't have a crystal ball.
He said that while he's in for the ablation he's also going to try and "induce dangerous arrhythmias in a controlled setting" to see if I'm subject to my brother's issues and a candidate for an ICD.
The procedure itself is scaring me as much as the disease, but since my function is measurably affected I HAVE to do it. I'm on a low does of metaprolol which doesn't seem to be eliminating anything, but part of me wonders if we should try other meds first before jumping right to ablation? He seems eager to go there and swears its safe/routine/no big deal and has a high success rate.
Then I see all these posts on here where ablations don't work sometimes. I don't know what to think! But my heart is apparently actively sick so I have to do SOMETHING.
For those that have had the ablation, how was the actual procedure? Scary, painful, not as bad as you thought? He said I have to be awake for some of it, and that makes it even worse in my mind!
At this point I don't know how sick I am or aren't, what the true issue is, if its linked to my brother, or what. I'm just freaked out I wont see me kids grow up.....