Denise and John Dietrich tied the knot 39 years ago. They had a picture introduction before they
first met. A mutual friend felt that would we would be perfect together. He took individual
photos of each of us. And then when he developed a film, he then showed us photos saying, you know, I
think you should know each other. I think you'd be good together. We dated for two years and then
john thought it would be wonderful to get married on the second-year anniversary of our first date
Throughout the years, Denise and john's hearts were full of love, a love that kept them strong
when their hearts began to beat out of rhythm. I was first diagnosed with an abnormal heart
condition in 2018. She was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heart rhythm
originates in the top chambers of the heart where instead of the heart beating in a natural
sequence, it quivers and sometimes it's rapid but it's always irregular and it makes the heart
function in a suboptimal way. So, it does not pump blood effectively
to the body. I would get very, very fatigued. I would have to sit down
uh just to rest. I had shortness of breath. Um The fast heartbeat caused just chest discomfort
and dizziness. Lightheadedness. So, she has tried various medications, they're called
anti arrhythmic medicines. Those are medicines that we used to try to control the rhythm and
keep the person in normal rhythm. Unfortunately, I did not have very good luck with any of those.
And it turned out that the symptoms from the medication was every bit as bad, if not worse
than the symptoms I was experiencing naturally john knew exactly what his wife was going through.
Six years prior to his wife's diagnosis, he received the same news, John had atrial
fibrillation. I was highly symptomatic. I had very, very high heart rates and I guess I'm
more in tune with my body. I feel what's going on with my body. So, I was very symptomatic and
over a period of time it just gradually got more frequent and more pronounced. JOHN tried
medications too, but he wasn't able to tolerate them either. Doctors suggested a procedure called
hybrid convergent ablation. So, the way it is done is that a patient would get a small
incision right below the best breastbone through a scope rather than an open-heart
surgery. Through a small scope. They can insert the catheter and places beneath the heart and
under direct visualization are able to heat the specific areas of the heart issue that's carrying
the atrial fibrillation. The condition that I was in prior to this surgery. How symptomatic,
unable to live my life as compared to how I live it. Now, remarkable change. I just got off the
trouble just did three miles an hour ago. So, life is good. Doctors recommended the same procedure
for Denise ironically six years later to the day. Denise had the same surgery as her husband. We saw
the surgeon the very same week. Thanksgiving. And then there were are six years apart on the
operating table to the day. And it was just very interesting to me how things worked out in life
sometimes. I thought it was pretty incredible since we do a lot of things together, I didn't
realize that would be one of them. So, she had the ablation and the second day she spontaneously
converted back to a normal rhythm which was very, very promising sign. And she's been in a normal
rhythm ever since. Two hearts beating to the same rhythm. And now Denise and john are feeling so
much better. I feel wonderful. I really have lots of energy now and I'm just enjoying things without
being tied down and bothered when I do things that I really love to do. It changed my life when
I had this procedure done, it literally changed my life. This procedure is really a game changer. For
patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. As you can see Denise and john have their lives back.
Thank you so much. Deborah joining me is Dr Safwat Gasses Medical Director of Atrial
Fibrillation Center at Penn State Health Holy Spirit and Hampton Medical Centers. And as we
saw Denise and john's Doctor, what a great couple. They're both doing really well right
now. But they both had a fib how common is the most common heart rhythm abnormality? About 6
to 8 million people in America have it and the incident is actually increasing quite a bit.
So, what do we need to look out for? Let's talk about the signs and the symptoms and for some
people could be subtle, but the most common symptom is just tiredness and fatigue. People
can abruptly feel short of breath, just kind of running out of gas more easily. For some people,
they may feel palpitations or irregular heartbeat. For others it could be shortness of breath or
swelling in their legs. Um And for some people the first time could be a stroke as well. Oh my,
okay, so let's talk about treatment then. What are some of the options? So fortunately, the
treatments have advanced quite a bit over the last few years. Traditionally they've been medications,
but we know medicines are quite limited and uh some people can have a cardioversion,
which means we use an electrical current to reset the hardware,
them back to normal. That's the easy part. But the trick is keeping it there. And about half
of people with a Afib have the persistent type of atrial fibrillation, which is more stubborn. And
that's when we have to use more sophisticated and advanced techniques such as ablation.