My name is Cornelis Pruimers, born at 28-06-1948 in The Netherlands. I have been living in Thailand for 4 years now.

My case starts about nine years ago at age of 56. I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, heart decompensation and a valve that did not close properly. After four months of medication and two cardioversions, I slowly recovered, and went on with my life as good as possible, However, the results of the cardioversions did not last long and about one year, after other cardioversions, I found myself in a situation of constant arrhythmia. But I took my medication and lived on quite normally. Had checked the thickness of my blood every month. However, one year ago, in the summer of 2012, I became more and more short of breath, and could not sleep horizontally anymore.

I went to the local hospital and after quite some examinations, I got the advice to go for an ablation at the Bangkok Heart Hospital.

First I hesitated to go for the ablation procedure, because of the possible complications of the procedure.

Two months later my situation got so bad that I had to do anything to improve my condition. Shortly spoken: I did not have other choice then to go for the ablation.

In the period of October/November 2012, Dr. Koonlawee Nademanee and Dr. Gumpanart Veerakul, did the ablation and implant of an ICD with pacemaker function. By that time the EF (ejection fraction) of my left ventricle had gone down to 21%, and the NTproBNP was 2780, which are both very bad numbers. Now about 6 months after the operation my condition is back to normal.

In fact to me, knowing how bad my condition was, it still feels like a miracle. The EF has gone up to 57% (normal is 60-65) and the NTproBNP is 88. I don’t take blood thinners anymore for quite some time, so the monthly blood checks are the past. Moreover, now there is only a little medication left that I have to take.

The way I was treated at the Bangkok Heart Hospital by the doctors, by Khun Jimmy, the charming assistant of Dr. Gumpanart, who I always can contact, and the nursing staff and all the others was and is marvelous.

Shortly spoken: I was a lucky man to meet those people in that setting in one of the difficult periods of my life. Hereby I would like to thank form the deepest of my heart, all the people from the hospital, who contributed to my healing.

P.S. Those who would want to communicate with me about all this, please always feel free to contact me through my email: pruimers@yahoo.com