Our good friends at the Atrial Fibrillation Association (in the UK) have just sent out the message below. Please help them win funds to continue raising awareness of atrial fibrillation.
Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA) is calling on people to vote to help it secure funds for its vital projects to improve the lives of people with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) around the world.
1 Mission 1 Million – Getting to the Heart of Stroke, aims to raise awareness of AF, by empowering people to decide which projects will receive a share of €1,000,000 in funds. Each project is committed to taking action to ensure greater awareness, understanding and education of AF is achieved in order to prevent suffering and life threatening complications.
Public voting will decide which of the 32 projects will receive an award of €10,000, €50,000 or €100,000. It is possible to cast three votes per day (one in each category) and we need to do this EVERY DAY from now until closing on 22nd June. AFA is asking anyone with an interest with AF to cast their vote at https://www.heartofstroke.com and help the charity help others.
This is a unique opportunity and securing funds will help AFA spread its reach internationally!
AFA has been successfully nominated in over 15 projects. The three we are asking you to vote for are:
- AFA International Co-ordinator (€100,000)
- AFA Risk Assessment Tool (€50,000)
- AFA Argentina: developing a new website (€10,000)
Voting only takes a minute. Please share this campaign amongst your friends, family and work colleagues etc. The initiatives that receive the most votes in each price region will receive funding to support their projects! Please support the Atrial Fibrillation Association.
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I had a maze (abelation?) procedure which didn’t work and they discovered when they did the angiogram that I had severe blockage and did a triple bypass at the same time. The mitrial valve I selected was metal, which seems to have complicated my life a bit more. I have tried all of the a-fib meds, none works – most make me worse. I am allergic to codeine and most herbs put me into a-fib, as does aspertamen (immediately and dramatically). I asked my doctor about a hybrid method I read about (5-box). She said she would talk to her surgeon in Phoenix — I live in Tucson. Instead, I got an email from her appointment person saying they had forwarded all of my material to Phoenix and the Phoenix people would be calling to set an appointment. I don’t want to go for a consultation and/or more tests unless I know I’m a candidate. I thought she understood that — her words were that I probably would not be candidate because of (1) the metal mitrial valve and (2) being on Coumadin all the time, so I haven’t made the appointment and she is fed up with me (not too happy with her either although she is a caring person, but very busy, so it’s impossible to get to her except on appointments every six months). She told the nurse who talked with me that she had told me I would have to go for consultations when in fact she didn’t even discuss it with me, but I look like a senile jerk over this, but am weary from just having a carotid artery surgery as well. We appear to have a huge communications gap. Guess I just want to know, since they tell me I’m not a candidate for the new types of Coumadin because of the metal valve, if I would possibly be a candidate for the hybrid procedure. Anyone there know anything about this? I’ve also tried acupuncture many times to no avail.
Bea,
The only way to know if you’re a candidate for surgery is to have a consultation with the surgeon, though you might be able to talk with their team by phone first to see if there is any reason you couldn’t have it.
I presume you’ve been referred to Dr. Aklog or Dr. DeGuzman in Phoenix. The 5-box version of the surgery is done by one specific surgeon; what Drs. Aklog and DeGuzman do is very similar. But I don’t know if they are doing a hybrid procedure yet.
I don’t know the details of what you’ve had, so I can’t help much. But I do suspect that having had a bypass means you can’t have a mini-maze (5-box is a mini-maze), but that you can have a maze procedure, which is open-chest, just like the bypass was.
I’m guessing the reason she said the valve and the Coumadin could be issues was because for surgery you generally go off Coumadin for a few days, which you can’t do with the valve. But they might be able to use Lovenox/heparin to bridge you through surgery – I don’t keep up with the latest in valves, so I don’t know if that is possible.
You’re not a candidate for the new blood thinners because they haven’t been tested and approved for valves yet, as far as I know.
Good luck.
Mellanie