I was up against the same decision 18 mo ago and finally had it done in March 09. I, too, ruminated over the finality of it all. I was on a boat load of meds (tikyson, diltiazem, atenolol) and they were not doing the trick. I already had a pacer so it did not have to endure that part of the procedure. When I finally made the decision, I was ready to proceed. I am glad I had it done as it has cut down on the recurrent AFib by quite a lot. I feel so much better. Life on a battery is not bad at all.
I went to a large teaching hospital 2.5 hrs away for all of my work. Prior to the AVJ ablation, I had 3 other ablations for AFib and AFlutter. I had the pacer implanted between ablation 1 and 2. Each ablation lessened the heart probs but the last one, the AVJ finally put it to rest.
I am still running on my original pacer and am due to have it changed out in the next year.
Good luck to you.
ksig
Yes I would say that if you have reached this point and no other meds will help you, go for it. I had an av nodal ablation at the ripe old age of 25 and I went from being nearly bedridden to leading a pretty normal life after I had it done. I've never ever had a single regret.