Gloria Arroyo brought back to hospital

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was taken to Makati Medical Center (MMC) on Monday for examination after the dislocation of the titanium plate supporting her cervical spine, a condition that a doctor at the hospital described as life-threatening.

Staff at the hospital’s call center confirmed that Arroyo, now a Pampanga congresswoman, was admitted to the hospital after her scheduled checkup. They had no other information.

Radio reports said Arroyo, in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace, arrived at the hospital around

8 a.m.

The MMC call center released a two-page medical bulletin on Arroyo’s condition.

Dr. Robert Anastacio, a resident cardiologist at the hospital, advised Arroyo to undergo another CT scan to determine if there was a “further deterioration of [her] anterior cervical cage.”

“The presence of a displaced titanium plate along C2-C3 is a serious factor in the mechanism of breathing and subsequently blood circulation, which may lead to sudden death,” the medical bulletin quoted Anastacio as saying.

On Aug. 3, just days after the Pasay City Regional Trial Court allowed Arroyo to post bail in her electoral sabotage case, she suffered neck pains after choking on a piece of melon. She was rushed to Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where she had been detained for nearly eight months.

Thin, dehydrated

“When I saw the patient during her last confinement, she was very thin and dehydrated with extreme anxiety after an episode of severe swallowing dysfunction, which resulted in choking,” Anastacio said.

Arroyo is having extreme difficulty in eating and swallowing even water, he said.

She also has a blocked artery in the heart, he said. “The former President is suffering from a 40-30 percent coronary artery obstruction of her proximal right coronary artery and left descending coronary artery,” he said.

Allies worried

Arroyo’s health is a cause of concern of her friends and allies in the House of Representatives, Occidental Mindoro Rep. Amelita Villarosa said.

“We’re just worried,” Villarosa said, but declined to comment further as it was a medical matter.

Hypoparathyroidism

Arroyo had undergone cervical spine surgery to deal with severe pain in her upper limbs caused by compressed nerves in the neck.

Arroyo was also found to have hypoparathyroidism, a disorder in which the parathyroid glands fail to produce enough of the hormone that helps control calcium, phosphorous, and vitamin D levels in the blood and bone.

Earlier this year, she contracted shingles, which is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox.  With a report from Leila B. Salaverria