GMA juggles work, wife duties

President Arroyo is juggling work and her duties as a wife to First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, who will undergo an angioplasty today.

Angioplasty is a medical procedure in which a balloon is used to open narrowed or blocked blood vessels to and from the heart.

Sources confirmed the First Gentleman was suffering from a heart ailment and that he had undergone a coronary angiogram during his confinement at the St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) in Quezon City.

Mr. Arroyo checked into the hospital Friday to prepare for the medical procedure.

Sources said the procedure would most likely be conducted by Dr. Enrique Posas. Angioplasty is not considered surgery and, based on a medical encyclopedia available in the Internet, it is done to prevent open heart surgery.

Usually, the average hospital stay for people who undergo angioplasty is less than two days. In many cases, an overnight hospital stay is not required at all.

In general, persons who have angioplasty are able to walk around within six hours after the procedure. Complete recovery takes a week or less, according to medical information available on the Internet.

According to the medical encyclopedia, arteries can become narrowed or blocked by deposits called plaque, which is made up of fat and cholesterol that builds up on the inside of the artery walls.

If the blockage is not too severe, an angioplasty procedure can be used to open the artery. Traditional angioplasty involves the use of a balloon catheter — a small, hollow, flexible tube tipped with a balloon.

Mrs. Arroyo followed the First Gentleman around lunchtime on Friday to be with him, but left SLMC 6:40 p.m. to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of the Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Makati City at 8:30 p.m.

Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio said he and the President were talking via cellphone while Mrs. Arroyo was en route to the hospital Friday, contrary to reports that he was there at the hospital.

"(Mrs. Arroyo) told me to tell the media that she’s going there to visit the First Gentleman to quell speculations that it was she who was getting treatment. The President knew that the media people were following her," Claudio said in an interview.

Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor said he was informed that Mrs. Arroyo would return to the hospital on Friday night.

Defensor said Mrs. Arroyo will keep other private appointments while attending to her husband.

The President did not have any public engagements but Defensor said she was on top of the operations needed to assist the victims of typhoon "Reming," which hit several parts of the country on Thursday and Friday.

He said this should end speculations that Mrs. Arroyo was also ill.

Defensor and Claudio also said Malacañang could not come up with official statements on the First Gentleman’s condition because his privacy must be respected.

The President’s spouse is not considered a public official even if he keeps an office and is provided with staff.