What did your medical staff tell you and if not why not?
They should explain everything first. Just my thoughts.

Copied from the Mayo Clinic web site:
Quote:

Definition

Cardiac catheter ablation

Cardiac ablation is a procedure that can correct heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias). Ablation typically uses catheters --" long, flexible tubes inserted through a vein in your groin and threaded to your heart "-- to correct structural problems in your heart that cause an arrhythmia.

Cardiac ablation works by scarring or destroying tissue in your heart that triggers an abnormal heart rhythm. In some cases, ablation prevents abnormal electrical signals from traveling through your heart and thus stops the arrhythmia.

Cardiac ablation is sometimes done through open-heart surgery, but it's often done using catheters, making the procedure less invasive and shortening recovery times.

Unquote.

I have not had this procedure, but I did have a stent installed in one of my heart arteries and that was done by a catheter inserted in a large artery in the groin and then the catherter was fished all the way up to the heart.

The entry port in the artery was sealed by a patch similar to a tubless tire patch. A biodegradeavle plug with a flared head was put in the puncture and sealed. Outward, the wound is a small puncture that dissapears in time.

According to the article above, ablation may be done either by catheter or open heart surgery. If it done by catheter, the main part of recovery is insuring that the entry site has sealed and in no danger of opening. The hardest (for me) was to lie on my back without crossing my legs at the ankles for eight hours. I'm a shifter when I lay down either for rest or sleep. I usually want to shift positions every 1.5 hr and I like sleeping on my side. It is necessary to help the entry site close and the artery to begin repair. The entry site will examined every 2 hrs or so to look for signs of leakage. After 8 hours, I was told to carefully roam about a bit. It was strange moving down the hall while pushing a stand holding a drip bag - you bet, I was careful. If all goes well, the total hospital stay will be 1.5 to 2 days. I was allowed to drive after the danger of rupturing the wound had passed which was 2 days after exiting the hospital.

I am not familar about what to expect for ablation by open heart surgery, except I do know that open heart surgery is very invasive and much more critical (going though the rib cage). I'd expect the recovery period to be similar to by-pass surgery.

I would think you'd be a bit tired from anesthesia and the procedure, but finally feel loads better, because your heart would finally be doing what it should doing. Like say, within a couple of months, if it was catheter. But that's just a guess... looked it up. I'm half right. It could get worse for a bit and then get better.

Here's what it says (before you read it, HRS stands for Heart Rhythm Society (the experts on rhythm correction):

"After your catheter ablation, the doctor will remove the catheters and apply pressure to avoid bleeding at the catheter insertion site. To prevent bleeding, you'll stay still for up to six hours, though with anesthesia you may be out the whole time. You'll be hooked up to a telemetry monitor that uses EKG-like patches and displays your heart rhythm. You will likely have to stay in the hospital overnight.

Expect to be tired, even out of it, with some chest discomfort for a day or two. It is common to experience afib or heart palpitations after any heart procedure, but they will subside once your heart heals, generally within three months.

You can expect to be on anticoagulants, such as Coumadin (warfarin) or possibly Pradaxa (dabigatran), to prevent blood clots for three-to-six months after the procedure. After that, the CHADS2 or the CHA2DS2-VASc scoring system may be used to determine if you should continue on an anticoagulant. To learn more about these scoring systems, see New Stroke Risk Factors for Those with Atrial Fibrillation (AF): Female Gender, Heart Disease, and Age. You may also be on an antiarrhythmic drug for a few months to manage any afib episodes.

Your doctor may tell you to avoid baths and swimming and to avoid lifting for up to a week following the procedure. You may also wish to give yourself plenty of time to recover before resuming any work or physical activity that may stress the body.

Follow-up visits after the procedure will generally involve many of the same tests as before the procedure, such as:
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
Echocardiogram
Transesophogeal echocardiogram (TEE)
Computed tomography (CT)
Holter monitor test
International Normalized Ratio (INR) if on Coumadin or warfarin
Other blood tests or lab work.

The HRS Consensus Statement suggests that follow-up should begin within three months after the ablation procedure and continue at six month intervals for at least two years. In addition, each doctor visit should include an ECG, and those who experience palpitations should wear an event monitor.1

Many people experience some atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter following a catheter ablation due to inflammation of the heart tissue. For this reason, the first three months are generally considered a "blanking period" in which success or failure should not be judged.

Some folks have said that their afib following catheter ablation was as bad as before, or worse. That is due to the inflammation, and the arrhythmia is often different from that experienced previously. As the body heals and the inflammation resolves, the afib and atrial flutter generally go away."

Here is a link that might be useful: stopafib.org

Of COURSE you will need help and cannot drive. I would think that they will not want you to be at home alone for a certain amount of time.

If a heart specialist recommends this procedure, be sure to ask him or her every little question you can think of, no matter how silly it might seem. It's also important to let them know that you live alone or have no help.

What's your situation?

A friend's DD had this. As Jem said, the hardest part for her was lying perfectly still for so long. She had been rear-ended twice and has back problems.

Sure beats open heart surgery.

I am thankfully able to control mine with medication thus far, my cardiologist did tell me if we reach the point in time that the medication is not working as well that ablation would be what I would be facing. Today it is a much easier and safer procedure than it was several years ago. But it is surgery and with any type of surgery there are risks. Definitely speak with the dr and staff and get the details and what to expect. I would also recommend having someone with you for a while after. But that should be covered by the talk you have with the doctor.

Have they determined that your case is not controllable with medications?

Of course we are talking with doctor and nurse about what to expect, but I appreciate the additional information here from anyone who has had the procedure.

Yes, Raven, the doctor said medications would not help. We have been deciding if I need to fly to be with my sister or if she would be ok with help from friends. I've decided to go up for a few days which will be best.

Thanks to everyone who posted your experience and knowledge.

Socks, my Dad had this procedure a couple of years ago. He did very well with it. He went in early in the morning and came home that same afternoon. He was told to take it easy for a couple of days, but was just fine by the next day. I think he was able to drive by the next day,too.

I had a cardiac ablation nine days ago. I had a cadioiversion eighteen months ago. I lost thirty six pounds and my ankles and calves went from fat blobs to dancer's legs overnight! A pulse rate of one hundred sixty five sent me back to the hospital. Following the ablation I felt great right away. I was given no instructions or guidelines before leaving the hospital. I drove myself home. Two days after being released and three days after the procedure I walked twenty six blocks. I feel better than I have in many years. Thank you doc!

I had the ablation procedure in October.....less than six hours in the hospital.

I feel better than I have in three years.

My husband had it done last December...it has helped a lot.

I have A fib and they attempted this procedure on me a few years
ago. The procedure is not bad. Your leg will be sore for a few days and if they
do like mine they will use a plug to plug the artery so it does not bleed
instead of sitting with the darn sand bags on your legs for hours. Which I have
had done before as well.

I don't want to scare
you but I also want to let you know what happened in my case which I will stress (IS
NOT TYPICAL) My doctor suggested
the procedure to me because they could not get my A Fib and other arrhythmias
under control she told me it has a 98% success rate and they believed it would
be a good option for me.

I had this done at
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston so a pretty good hospital I went in for
the procedure and just be warned ( I was not prepared for this) they may shave
your nether regions. I only say this because it caught me off guard but once
they explained it I understood why but was still a bit of a OH moment lol.

Anyways I went in to
the procedure at 12:00 pm. They gave me some sleepy meds and put a bunch of
monitors on me including what I thought at the time was 2 giant heart monitor
pads on me one on the front of my chest and one directly behind it on my back
both left side. They explained to me they would be doing the mapping and I may
feel my heart rate go up and down if I was not completely asleep so not to
worry. I was actually zonked out! They woke me up at 1:30pm and told me they
had mapped out the areas they needed to and were about to start the ablation
portion of the procedure. That is the last thing I remember until 4 pm when I
woke up coming out of the procedure room.

They took me back to
the recovery room and my doctor was sitting there waiting for me. She kept
lifting my gown and looking at my chest. I kept wondering why she was looking
at my chest when they went through my legs. My husband came back to the
recovery area and his hair was standing straight up and I could tell he had
been crying. By that point I was talking, eating having a drink and everyone
around me was acting really really strange. My doctor didn't leave my side, the
nurses were fawning over me and my husband was loving on me like I had never
seen. Something was up!

I finally ask ok what
is going on? Why do you keep looking at my chest??? The doctor then explained
to me that I went into an A Fib attack on the table during the procedure and
they could not get my rate until control and it had shot up to over 600 bpm and
chemical conversion did not work and they had to Cardiovert ( use the DeFibber)
on me 6xs to bring my rate back and they had had a really hard time stabilizing
it even after that. I was like Ohhhhh ok now I understand. I had at that point
never been cardio verted outside of using drugs. I still honestly didn't
understand how bad it was until I got up to move. I found out they had went
through both legs and what I thought was an IV bandage my other arm was
actually where they had also went through my arm for something. I felt like I
had been hit with a semi in the gut. I could barely walk I assume it was from
the DeFib jolts.

I was actually on my
way home by 5:30-6:00pm after that. Once they watched my heart rate for a bit
and made sure I wasn't bleeding they sent me home which shocked me. At that
point I was a bit nervous to go home but they assured me I'd be fine (which I was)
On the way home I asked my husband why he was so upset, I was fine, I felt fine
when I woke up he explained to me then that he had heard the code called to the
procedure room, right after the code was called they called him on the phone in
the waiting room and told him there was a problem and poor guy had to sit there
alone waiting to hear what happened to me all alone. I felt so bad for him. On
the hour drive home I was sore but doing ok. When I got home by back and chest
started to burn terribly. I hadn't taken my shirt off since I got dressed at
the hospital but I kept telling my husband it was burning really bad. I finally
went and got changed and when I took my shirt off my chest and back were burnt
really badly in the shape of those big giant what I thought were heart
monitors. They were apparently stick on defib paddles. I had 3 of them on my
chest and back so each one must be good for 2 cardioversions. That night I was
in so much pain, that the next morning I had to go to Urgent Care. They told me
I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my back and chest from that. You don't ever
see on TV when they use the paddles on people that they complain of burns or
feeling like they have been struck by a semi. My doctor never explained to me
that this was a possibility. As far as I knew I was going in for a simple
procedure (which it is) but there can be issues. I wanted to let you know about
them so that you aren't caught of guard like I was.

After all of that they
ended up aborting the ablation as they said I had too many bad areas in my
heart and they would have to burn too many areas. So for me the procedure was
not successful, My next option is a pacemaker/Defib combo which I am waiting
for awhile to get.

As I said please don't
think I am trying to scare you. The catheter part in the legs and the procedure
recovery is pretty easy. You do need someone to drive you home and you maybe
sore in your legs for a few days, do not lift anything heavy until they tell
you you can due to the entry site for the catheter it needs to heal and you
need to watch it for bleeding. I was told before I had my procedure that after
the procedure I may have a few fluttering episodes but not to worry about them
it was normal.

I wish you the best
and a speedy recovery.

I had the procedure about ten days ago. Stayed overnight and drove home the next day. No pain no problem with my incision. I left the bandage on until it came off in the shower on day four. No one has looked at it, or asked to. I was given no instruction upon leaving the hospital. I walked twenty Sox blocks on day three. I feel better than I have in years. I feel like superman. Read on the internet (Dr. John Mandrola a cardiac electrophysiologist) that patients should resume what ever activity they were persuing prior to the procedure. I am doing much more. Climbing steps without hugging the railling. Climbing multiple flights and not have to spend five minutes trying to catch my breath. I can tie my shoes and put socks on, including compression hose, like a normal person. I feel better than I have in at least five years. I can hardly wait to get my bicycle road worthy again.

I may not be typical. But I am fifty four years old and this has been my experience. I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and have no intention of quitting.

I am currently on eleven medications including Lantis for diabetes and Dulera for COPD. I am on Xarelto and will switch to Eliquis when it runs out. Eliquis, like Xarelto, does not have to monitored and is covered by insurance, unlike Xarelto. Fortunately I will not have to take Warfarin or Coumadin which require monitoring. The sensitivity in my hands has completely returned and my feet are almost there. I am very happy. Thank you to all the doctors and research scientists. My quality of life has greatly improved. Thank you.