MANILA, Philippines–After fighting for his life and now apparently on his way to full recovery, First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo might be allowed to watch the Sunday’s fight between boxer Manny Pacquiao and Mexican Jorge Solis on television.
Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, main attending physician of the First Gentleman, said she might issue a medical bulletin Sunday morning ahead of the airing of the Pacquiao-Solis fight to determine if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband can watch the fight.
Cervantes made the statement after announcing Saturday afternoon that the First Gentleman’s kidneys have started functioning again, that he was taken off the respirator and already has a 95-percent chance of making a full recovery.
The First Gentleman, a patron of Pacquiao who witnessed the latter’s previous fights in the United States, underwent a delicate 10-hour open heart surgery after doctors at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City found that he had a dissecting aortic aneurysm that could have killed him if he was not immediately operated on.
In her first press conference at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, when the much-improved condition of the First Gentleman was initially withheld, Cervantes had said she might not permit her patient to watch the boxing bout.
“Probably not, because his blood pressure might rise,” Cervantes said, adding doctors planned to inform Arroyo of the results after the fight. “But if he [Pacquiao] loses, we will just keep quiet.”
At her second news conference, however, Cervantes said doctors will make another assessment of Arroyo’s condition and announce on Sunday whether they would led him watch the fight or not.
