Kelly Jones

	Kelly Jones, Summer 2009

When Kelly Jones learned he had atrial fibrillation, it was like pieces of a puzzle started to come together. For more than five years, the 55-year-old Jones had suffered with dizzy spells and decreased stamina. An avid runner, he started to notice that his race times were slowing and that he wasn’t performing at his accustomed level. He had regular physicals, but they didn’t explain why he didn’t feel well and couldn’t do some of the things that he had once enjoyed.

Then, in May 2008, Jones went to the emergency room with chest pains. He thought he was having a heart attack, but the diagnosis turned out to be atrial fibrillation. “The pieces of the puzzle finally started to come into place,” he says. “The dizzy spells during household chores, heart palpitations and decreased ability to run or hike like I used to were a result of atrial fibrillation.”

In July 2008, Jones had a cardioversion, a procedure that uses electrical shock to convert an abnormal heart rhythm back to a normal rhythm. The results were only briefly successful, lasting only a couple days before he was back into afib.

Jones’ doctors offered other treatment possibilities—from drug therapy to ablation to the Cox Maze. “I was told that there was a 20 percent chance the ablation would work,” says Jones, “and I wasn’t interested in drug treatment considering how tired and lethargic my current afib medications were making me feel.”

Jones did research of his own and discovered the Ex-Maze, a minimally invasive procedure designed by FirstHealth heart surgeon Andy C. Kiser, M.D. Jones contacted FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital to find out if he was a candidate for the procedure, and learned about Dr. Kiser’s work to develop a combination of the Ex-Maze and catheter ablation to treat afib, the Convergent Procedure. The Convergent merges the expertise of a cardiothoracic surgeon with that of an electrophysiologist to provide complete afib treatment.

On Jan. 23, 2009, Jones became the first patient in the country to have the Convergent
Procedure when Dr. Kiser and electrophysiologist Mark Landers, M.D., performed the procedure at Moore Regional Hospital. Kelly Jones is now a new man. Since he had his Convergent Procedure his dizzy spells, palpitations and shortness of breath are gone and he is beginning to resume the active life he led before atrial fibrillation took it away.

Before having the procedure, he had hiked a 9,400-foot peak with his family, a trek that took him seven hours. He’s convinced that he could do much better now. “I’m ready to get back to doing the things I enjoy like hiking and jogging,” he says, “and doing them without giving out of breath.”

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