More Nerdy Stuff - and Surgery Delay

The surgery will be Thursday. The first indication I had this might happen was when they canceled the TEE test. Shortly after, my doctor came in and said we needed to delay until Thursday because they couldn't schedule a "mapping" tech. This is a disappointment, of course, since I'll have another two days in "stir."

But I asked what a "mapping tech" did and got a fascinating answer. As the catheters move into the atria, their positions are precisely kn0wn. They take lots of readings and map the atria with the catheters. Then they take the CT scan data and merge it with the direct measurements. The resulting 3d model is used to guide the ablation catheter to the precise location the surgeon wants to apply ultrasound to. This allows them to conduct the procedure without using additional X-ray imaging. I asked the doctor if I could have a dump of the data, and he said yes! I may have to learn something about the data formats, but the prospect of visualizing my atria right on my Mac just makes my nerdy toes curl with pleasure.

I'm glad I get distracted by stuff like this. I think I would feel more annoyed by the delay if I didn't.