Sims vs. Pneumonia

So as you might of heard I had a little mishap and found myself in the hospital just over a week ago. I imagine a lot of you – and by you, I mean family, friends, fans, hot chicks, etc. – have been pretty curious on what exactly happened to me. Well it's simple... I was in a high speed police chase which ended in the LAPD gunning me down with five bullets to the chest.

No, that's not true. Although it would be a much more exciting story to tell.

So what really happened? Well it's simple... I got Pneumonia. See about four weeks ago I woke up with a pain in my shoulder. The pain, within a few days, quickly moved to the left part of my chest. At first I thought it was a bad case of heart burn. But after a brief visit with my doctor I found out that it wasn't. He believed that due to a recent heavy cough that I had pulled a muscle. He prescribed some standard cough medicine and said that within a week or two the pain should go away. Two weeks and a killed cough later I found that this odd, heart burn type pain was not going away. It seemed to come and go. One day I would feel it. One day I wouldn't. I started to think that maybe it was a cause of stress until the evening of Tuesday, February 16th.

That night, on my way home from work, I began to feel the pains much stronger than before. I knew something wasn't right and that the next day I would have to return to my doctor to see what was up. When I awoke the next morning I found that not only had the pains gotten worse but that simple breathing had become much more difficult. Coughing hurt, talking was next to impossible and walking to my car seemed like I was running a 500 mile marathon. Now, I know I'm a little on the "heavy" side, but never in my life had I had breathing troubles like this.

As soon as I arrived at my doctor he and I both realized that what I was dealing with was a little more than a pulled muscle – Doctor Fail #1. An x-ray showed that my left lung was completely filled with fluid and needed to be immediately drained. The doctor suggested that I go home, rest and that the hospital would be in contact with me in the next two days about having my lung drained. Sadly for me, I couldn't wait two days – Doctor Fail #2. As soon as I left the doctors office I immediately drove myself to the ER. It didn't take long for the nurses to realize the pain that I was in and as quick as they could they had me in a hospital bed ready to be drained.

Now I'll save you all the details of giant needles, a crazy morphine IV and a cute ER nurse named Farrah and just skip to the result... The draining of the lung didn't work – Doctor Fail #3. As I laid there in the ER, sore from an attempted lung draining and chest that practically seemed to stop working, I found out that a quick hospital visit and a few days out of commission would now be turning into a lengthy hospital stay and several days out of commission. I was informed that my lung had practically collapsed and that the next day I would be going in for chest surgery. And with that began my six days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The surgery resulted in me having two tubes come out of my left side which helped drain the numerous amounts of fluid in my lung. While this continued for several days a team of top notch doctors, that know the difference between a pulled a muscle and a collapsed lung, began to run tests that found that an infection had made it's way into my left lung several weeks earlier (remember the sore shoulder?) and caused for a serious case of Pneumonia. I spent a total of six days in the hospital – one in the ER, one in surgery, three with tubes attached to me and one to figure out what specific antibiotic was needed to help kill this bitch of an infection.

On Monday, February 22nd I was released from the hospital and sent home to spend the next week to recover, inject myself with antibiotics and attempt to sleep while having a left side filled with stitches. From the crazy meds to a day nurse I felt as if I went from twenty-six to eighty-six overnight. How did I end up in this ridiculous situation? How did I go from what I thought was heart burn from chili cheese fries to chest surgery and enough antibiotics to kill a small horse? It was all pretty shitty. But now, a week after my hospital release and almost two weeks after breathing seemed practically impossible, I am able to look back and be thankful. Sure, I'm still out of work and still pumping myself daily with antibiotics, but at least I'm starting to feel like my old self again.

I look forward to returning to my old song and dance and feeling alive again. But I also look forward to a new journey ahead. A journey of clean health, a fresh mind and new outlook on life. Being in that hospital for days made me realize that no matter what nothing in life is more important than the people who surround us. Our friends, our families, our relatives near and far. No matter what gets thrown down our bowling lane of life we all have people who love us. People who care and people who will do anything for us at anytime. I can't say thank you enough to everyone from my roommates, to my friends, to my cousins, to my aunts, to my uncles, to my grandparents, to my sister, to my co-workers, to family's friends, to my parents for all the love and support that has come my way these last two weeks. I'm one lucky son of a bitch to be alive. But I'm one luckier son of a bitch to have the people I have in my life.

So that's my story. Sadly, it's still not quite over. But soon it will be. Thanks again to everyone for all the love and support. I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

-- Steven M. Sims

First night out of the hospital – February 22, 2010