Text messages stir up Cebu City: Osmeña undergoes toe surgery

CEBU CITY — The city was on tenterhooks the other day when word spread by text messages that Mayor Tomas Osmeña was taken to the hospital.

But any dire forebodings anyone had were quickly doused when, upon verification, it was found that he had to undergo minor, non-life-threatening surgery.

Osmeña went under the knife for the removal of a bunion that developed around his left big toe. The bunion, or swelling on the side of the first joint of the big toe, was apparently caused by rheumatoid arthritis, a condition he suffers.

Contacted by phone a few hours after his surgery at the Chong Hua Hospital, Osmeña told The Freeman he checked into the hospital early Saturday morning for an operation that was actually scheduled a week ago but had to be canceled due to his tight schedule.

Concern about any hospitalization involving Osmeña harkens back to a scary situation on March 9, 2002 when he had to be rushed to the same hospital after collapsing inside the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral while standing as a wedding sponsor.

The collapse was triggered by a sudden rise in his blood pressure.

At the time, his cardiologist, Dr. Manuel Lim, said some small blood vessels in Osmeña’s brain ruptured but clarified that it was not aneurysm.

Lim said it was an attack of hypertension due to work-related stress.

Because of that hypertensive attack, Osmeña had to stay in the hospital for 20 days and seek medical attention and rest abroad for two months.

From his hospital bed the other day, Osmeña said the bunion had to be removed because he was getting uncomfortable with it since it was affecting his walk.

The mayor had just come from an official trip to Manila when he checked into the hospital.

Feet are a common site for rheumatoid arthritis-caused deformities, one of which is a hallux valgus or bunion. A bunion is characterized by changes in the tissues around the big toe joint, causing it to bend toward the little toe and develop a bony enlargement.

"I’ll be in City Hall on Monday to work. I’m still working even now. But I have to wear shoes a little bigger than the actual size of my feet, " Osmeña said.

Realizing the concern about his health, Osmeña said his critics and foes could go and wish he was hospitalized for far more serious causes, but the truth is he is in good health and is physically fit. — Freeman News Service