FEELING that’s he is only 80 percent healed from his stage four urinary bladder cancer, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will leave for the U.S. later this month to seek his third routine checkup.
While he does not feel any pain or discomfort these days, he said, he still has not fully recovered and needs to undergo tests at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Osmeña said he has not regained the stamina he had before being diagnosed with urinary bladder cancer in October 2008.
“I wouldn’t say I’m 100 percent healed, I would say about 80 percent. But that’s okay, I’m not an athlete anyway. There’s no problem but climbing up or going down a hill, I have a hard time with that but walking, I have no problem,” he said.
The mayor is scheduled to leave on Jan. 22 for the three-day check-up, his third in the US after undergoing surgery in April 6 last year.
His urinary bladder, prostate and some lymph nodes were removed. He was reportedly declared by his doctors as cancer-free after the surgery.
Osmeña said he intends to come home right away after the series of tests so he can resume his consultations with his constituents in the south district. He is seeking the district’s congressional seat in the elections this May.
In his news conference yesterday, he said his health condition does not keep him from visiting the barangays for his nightly “pulong-pulong.”
Because he has lost his stamina, he said he avoids walking to hilly portions of the city.
Osmeña will fly to Houston with his wife Margot, who is also running for south district city councilor.
He said that unlike his previous trips to the US for check-ups, he does not intend to make any side trip this time.