BOXING ICON Manny Pacquiao was rushed to the hospital yesterday afternoon after suffering from stomach pains and vomiting repeatedly.
Pacquiao’s close friend, Wakee Salud, said the 27-year-old boxer suffered stomach pains after eating lunch and had to be rushed to the Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital in San Juan City.
One of his doctors, Regina Bagsic, a gastroenterologist, said that Pacquiao needed to rest but did not elaborate on what might be wrong with the boxing star.
Salud said his friend had a history of ulcers and suggested his condition could have something to do with the fact that he had forgotten to take his medication before eating lunch.
Outside his hospital room stands burly bodyguard Cris Aguilar, who makes sure his boss gets enough rest and private moment by screening visitors.
But there’s still no respite for the former world champion who checked in under an assumed name. Several hangers on were inside the room ready to do errands.
Pacquiao had just attended a meeting with the executives of ABS-CBN yesterday morning when it was decided that he be brought to the medical center in San Juan.
Dr. Bagsic diagnosed Pacquiao as having acid reflux, a relatively new disease “that starts with acid in the stomach washing back up into the esophagus repeatedly, which happens if the lower esophageal sphincter becomes relaxed,” according to its definition found in the Internet.
Pacquiao, who was wearing a multi-colored pin-stripe short-sleeved polo and designer jeans instead of the usual hospital gown, was being administered two dextrose bottles but was in a jolly mood when The Bulletin paid a visit.
Pacquiao, who less than two weeks ago mauled Mexican Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum, was busy answering calls on his cell phone while his eyes was fixed on the TV set.
He was upbeat and appeared normal and was busy signing commemorative magazines and a shirt laid on the table by some of his friends who were inside the room.
“Kahit tubig isinusuka ko,” Pacquiao said earlier in the day as he had to call off a planned trip to the US to watch lightweight Randy Suico vie for the world title Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
His friends said Pacquiao might be discharged as early as today.
This was the second time that Pacquiao was admitted to the Cardinal Santos. He was admitted there in March after a brief Hong Kong holiday with family and friends.
It was during that time that Pacquiao was diagnozed with acid reflux.
“Maybe it was something that I ate after the fight with Larios kasi after that I ate almost anything that was served to me,” said Pacquiao, who will return to the ring on Nov. 18 when he faces Erik Morales in a rubber match at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Doctors did not say the ailment was due to the hectic activity that Pacquiao went through after the Larios fight which include several parades, TV appearances, radio and print interviews, not to mention long evenings spent at the casino and cockfights. —With additional report from the Agence France Presse
