Sunday, February 18, 2018

My SVT Story [Part 2, Switching Cardiologists]

Read Part 1 here.

I left off last time after my first appointment with the cardiologist in June 2016. I was scheduled to go back in September for another follow up. I was a bit miffed that in June I didn't come off the medication like he had told me I would in the ER and that my diagnosis changed all of a sudden from afib to SVT. I didn't get anything more than a piece of paper about it. I went prepared with many questions for my appointment in September.

I was trying to ask the cardiologist the questions I had brought with me and he seemed very flustered and kept telling me to wait and he'd answer my questions later. He got to a point where he said that we needed to schedule an ablation or I would be on medication for the rest of my life and left the room because he wanted to call down to surgery. I was 100% confused and terrified. 6 months prior when I had the first and only episode, he told me if I had had no more episodes that I would be off my medication in June. Here I am in September being told that I need an ablation - which he didn't even explain at all. I had to google it on my phone after he abruptly left the room. Google can be a blessing and a curse, but I'll tell you what...it's not a great way to find out that they want to burn and kill part of your heart in an invasive procedure. So I left my appointment with none of my questions answered and scared. I didn't schedule the ablation and I decided I would find a new cardiologist. I don't like being treated like I'm naive, stupid, etc. because I'm young. I'm fairly intelligent and I want to be treated like I am a human being.

One of the cashiers at Kroger that I talk to on a weekly basis recommended her cardiologist office to me and I visited them shortly thereafter. My new cardiologist was able to explain to me that I had SVT that had converted to afib because I had been in it for so long, but that SVT was my official diagnosis. He told me that he had SVT when he was younger and had a successful ablation and no issues since then. But he also agreed that it was fine to not go that route since we didn't know if it was a one-time episode or if it would happen again. He reassured me that even if it did happen again, SVT is rarely fatal and that I would be okay. He gave me the go-ahead to stop taking the meds but to keep them on hand in the event that I had an episode.

I left feeling a lot better. I was still a bit nervous and anxious, but overall I was a lot better. That's where I'll leave off today. I will share Part 3 soon :) This is a long story!

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