For the past 10 years or so, I've had a heart arrhythmia, which was diagnosed as "atrial fibrillation". It would come on a few times a year and I would either wait for it to go away or go to the ER to get it converted back to a normal "sinus" rhythm. The basic problem is that my heart, on occasion, beats irregularly. Atrial fibrillation is not easy to treat, except via drugs.
It's not life-threatening unless it stays in the funky rhythm for over 12-24 hours, in which case a clot can form and cause a stroke. But, it is a disorder and a huge pain in the ass when it happens (as it did multiple times on our honeymoon).
Recently my cardiologist ordered all my old EKGs and found that I've been mis-diagnosed all along. I don't have atrial fibrillation, but a similar disorder called "atrial flutter", which is very treatable.
So, today at 1pm, I will have a cardiac procedure that will hopefully prevent me from having atrial flutter ever again, it's called Catheter Ablation. It's done via catheters (wires inserted in veins that end up in the heart) that are used to burn out an electrical node or two, inside my heart, that is causing the funky heartbeat.
It's fairly low risk and has a high success rate. I'm especially excited because this will mean one less thing to have to worry about on the trip. I would hate to be helicoptered out of the Serengeti.
I've written a little more about it on my personal site.