Tim’s Story

Site created on December 7, 2019

I am creating this page at the request of my dear wife Carrie.  While I know this is a great way to communicate, right now I am just trying to save my wife's hand from typing everyone about what is going on.  I have to admit though, I have had a couple family members and a couple friends use CaringBridge, and it has been a great way to stay informed about their journeys.  I guess I never thought I would be one to have a story to share.


As most of you know, in September of 2016 I was diagnosed with heart failure.  I fainted while walking into a football game, busted up my face pretty bad and went to get some stitches.  Fortunately, the doctor who was going to stitch me up recently went through a similar situation with her husband and sent me downtown to the hospital.  I was admitted for an abnormal EKG and for my heart going into v-tach.  (Lower portion of the heart beats faster than the top.)  Basically, my heart was not contracting as much as it should.  About a week later I was heading home with an implanted defibrillator, a handful of medications and many upcoming doctor appointments.


The following year I was taken off blood thinners.  This is common practice, but for me it caused me to have a stroke.  After returning from the hospital and doing some therapy, I was back at it.  But my heart continued to deteriorate.  My ejection fraction was bouncing around 30% or half of what a healthy heart contracts.  This past May while I was lifting weights, my defibrillator went off.  Six times!  It felt like a major league baseball player hit me across the chest with a bat.  I literally sat there absorbing the shocks thinking I was going to meet God and see my friends and relatives who are already in their eternal home.  But after another hospital stay, change in medications and a new defibrillator I was back home.  Since then, my body has been compensating considerably less.  Now I find myself in the hospital in an ICU room waiting for a new heart.


It is amazing how much the Lord has watched over me through all of this though.  Not much more than a decade ago, the only way I would have been diagnosed was through an autopsy.  From the first doctor I saw and the experience she had with her husband, to all the great doctors and medical staff I have seen, the Lord has been very present.  I am so blessed to live in a town with a great hospital that does heart transplants and has phenomenal cardiac care.    

Newest Update

January 1, 2024 - 4 Years!

Journal entry by Tim DeGeest —

It has been 4 YEARS!  I don't remember anything about New Years Day 2020.  I was sedated because of receiving my new heart the day before.  What I do remember is what life was like the years leading up to my transplant as well as the years since. Everything God has created is amazing, including the human body and its resiliency.  Most people have no idea of what I was physically going through leading up to my transplant nor the couple years after.    

Yesterday, as I was walking out of church, I saw a guy wearing a sweat shirt that had the saying, "You never know what someone is going through" on it.  There was a time in my life that I would have thought this was a weird thing for someone to wear.  Yesterday, my first thought was, I hope he or someone close to him is okay.  Then I wondered if he went through something similar to me.  How many people do we interact with every day who are going through their own journey and we have no idea? 

Today, I can say that I feel 100% healthy.  This past year I have felt zero limitations from my new heart.  When people ask me what it is like to have a new heart, the first thing I would respond with is when doctors place a new heart, nerves are severed.  Your new heart then relies on a chemical produced to pump faster.  So if I go for a run or do anything physical, it takes a few minutes for my heat to beat faster. If I push it too much at first, I get light headed until the chemical is released.  After I get done with physical exertion, it takes more time for my heart rate to slow down.  I don't have that anymore.  My heart rate goes up and down as if it were never transplanted.  I am so thankful for that!  It has literally been a decade since I have felt this good.

For 2024, my goal is to become more patient, kinder and an encourager.  You never know what someone is going through.  Rejoice with those that are rejoicing, weep with those who are weeping.  Some day, all the bad will be gone and those that have accepted Jesus into their hearts will live in eternity without any grief or sorrow.

Below is a link to a short segment of a sermon Louie Konopka gave a while back in church.  It sums it all up.  (you will have to copy and paste it in your browser)

https://fb.watch/piFR87X00j/

Revelation 21: 3-4

Romans 12: 14-21

Tim D. 

 

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