Trev reveals his bout with Atrial Fibrillation

It's amazing what they can do with the heart today. I say that because I come from a family riddled with heart disease. My grandfather died of a heart attack at the age of 59 and no one knew he actually had a hole in his heart until he collapsed. My mother also died of heart disease at the age of 64. So I made it my business to work out seven days a week and keep myself in shape which I did for years until one day....

I went for a physical in 2012 and to me this was nothing because every year I was told I had the heart rate of a man in his twenties. This year would be different. When the doctor said they found Afib, he couldn't believe it so he had them check it again.  Atrial Fibrillation is basically an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, a stroke, heart failure, or heart complications. I was given blood thinners like the kind you see in those television commercials and a few other drugs to deal with it.

The first thing they tried to get my heart back in what they call sinus rhythm which is beating normally was to try Cardioversion where they stop the heart and then start it again, sort of like a reboot. They tried this on a Thursday morning and driving myself to the hospital I'm thinking about my cousin's husband who at 46 went in for a simple valve replacement and never left the hospital. I started crying in the car, and of course praying.

Later that night I was following Governor Christie's "Ask The Governor" and telling my colleagues what I had done that day "had my heart stopped" much to their disbelief.

The Cardioversion did not work and I was told not to worry, that we could simply manage the Afib with the blood thinners and drugs. I then sought a second opinion from Dr Sumeet Mainigi at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia who suggested something called a cardiac ablation.

The procedure was done with five catheters going from both of my groins to my heart. Dr Mainigi used electrodes fed through the catheters to destroy the heart tissue that was believed to be causing the arrhythmia. This then prevented the abnormal electrical signals from moving through my heart. It fixed the problem which has kept me in sinus rhythm which is the normal rhythm of the heart to this day.

Since then, I've dropped 30 pounds, I work out about 45 minutes a day doing a combination of bicycling, weight lifting, push ups and "ab wheel of torture." I feel terrific and I tell you this in case you or anyone you know ever gets diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation. It's not the end of the world, in fact it may just be the beginning.

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