Friday, November 07, 2008 Docs to probe Tomas further
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will go on indefinite leave starting this Sunday to seek further treatment for his urinary bladder cancer and a possible surgery, after doctors found another lump, this time on his lymph node.
But Osmeña said yesterday he does not feel sick and sees no need to resign from his post at this time.
Instead of dwelling on his illness, the mayor said he would prefer it if everyone takes advantage of the situation and sees how the City will function without him.
“Let’s take advantage of this crisis. What I realized the past month is that the City doesn’t need me, which is good… Naa ko’y crisis but in every crisis, there is an opportunity so I’m using this crisis as an opportunity for Cebu.
We’re not going to dwell on what is going to happen to me, but let’s see how the city will run without me,” said Osmeña.
With executive powers delegated to city councilors and other officials, he said he is confident City Hall will function well during his long absence.
On his first day back at City Hall after a one-month leave, Osmeña met with the Liga ng Mga Barangay Kagawad sa Pilipinas (LBKP) Cebu City yesterday morning, finalized the venue for his State of the City Address tomorrow and answered the media’s questions regarding his health during a news conference.
Coping
“I’m anticipating that I will be gone for two months or more, we don’t know yet for sure. It’s definite to God, but it’s indefinite to me. I will probably have a surgery, but there is only a central issue here. In my lymph node on the right pelvis, they found a material, they don’t know what it is yet but it’s the size of a pea. It could be cancer, it could be not,” he said.
Osmeña said a sample of the material was already removed during a procedure at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas for biopsy. He will get the results
when he returns to the US.
“The significance of that is only this. If it’s malignant, then the cancer has escaped the bladder and has spread to other parts of the body. In that case, chemo is very important… They said it’s probably not malignant but the only one way to find out is to take it out… But for the bladder, that is really cancer.
Taking out the entire bladder, it’s almost automatic. They said they can save it but there’s a lot of procedures, so I said forget it, let’s just take it out,” he continued.
Stage
If his bladder is removed, the mayor said that he will bring around a receptacle that will have a tube connected to the side of his body, where urine will be deposited. The receptacle can be concealed and emptied whenever necessary.
Osmeña said that his doctors also found it irrelevant to dwell on the stage of his cancer but said that the cancer is invasive and has already penetrated the wall of his bladder.
“But I will not resign, why should I? There’s no reason for me to resign at this point… I’m not sick. My heart, my brain and my bones are okay. I have a little diabetes, but no big deal,” he said.
‘Last chapter’
Osmeña arrived in Cebu last Wednesday morning on a private plane from Bacolod. He reported for work yesterday morning amid applause and cheers from city officials and employees, after which he handed over a P3-million check to the LBKP for their sports activities in the barangays.
He and other city officials decided to transfer the venue of his State of the City Address to the Cebu City Coliseum at 2 p.m. tomorrow after learning of the weather disturbance expected to hit Cebu.
The mayor said he had wanted to deliver his address at the Cebu City Sports Center to remind the Cebuanos that the sports facility is one of his first accomplishments during his first term as city mayor.
As a tradition, the mayor delivers the address during the inaugural session in July of each year, but he said he decided to postpone it until after the City has gotten proposals for the sale of South Road Properties (SRP) lots.
“I think now is the time when I really have something to say as part of my responsibilities as mayor. I will talk more of our direction, our mission and strategies as a city…
This is the last chapter of my service as a public official,” he said. (LCR)
