First Gentleman to undergo spine operation

(Update 2 – 6:10 p.m.) First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo announced on Tuesday he would undergo an operation over the weekend, a procedure intended to cure his recurring back pain arising from a helicopter crash more than a decade ago. Mr. Arroyo made the announcement during a book launch at Malacañang. During the same event, which launched books published by Mr. Arroyo’s First Gentleman Foundation Inc. (FGFI), he also sought prayers from his audience. “In a few days, I will undergo surgery on my spinal column," Arroyo said. "May I request that you, our parents and doctors please pray for me. Also I wish one of you, who’s an espeyalista will be there too, to guide the doctors who would be there." The event also saw the launch of coffee table books entitled “First" and “181 Dreams," which is about the FGFI’s projects and programs. The latest batch of scholars of the Bagong Doktor Para sa Bayan (New Doctors for the Country) were also feted during the event. Scheduled for June 19, the operation will be conducted at the St. Luke's Medical City-Global where he’ll be staying for ten days. He will also celebrate his 64th birthday on June 27 at the hospital. Doctors chose this time to undertake the procedure because his heart is seen to be in a stable condition. Arroyo said surgery is better done now than later when he can still stand the pain, instead of waiting for it to become unbearable, increasing the possibility of another heart attack. Arroyo has been suffering from severe backpain after he and his wife, then-senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, were among the passengers who survived a helicopter crash in the 1990s, Juris Soliman, the First Gentleman’s chief of staff said. Arroyo has also undertaken several therapy and treatments both foreign and local but the pain has persisted, Soliman said. Back pain has been "recurring" but "not all the time," the First Gentleman said, adding that it has not gone away. The procedure intends to prevent a repeat of the March 25 incident, when Mr. Arroyo was rushed to the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City due to back pains. Doctors later said the pain was connected to his heart problem called a re-dissection of the thoracic aorta. [See: First Gentleman rushed to St. Luke’s due to heart trouble] Mr. Arroyo was required to have regular heart check-ups alternately at Malacañang and at St. Luke's. The First Gentleman underwent an angioplasty in December 2006 and aneurysmectomy and triple-heart bypass surgery in April 2007. In November 2008, the First Couple made an emergency landing in Japan after Mr. Arroyo fell ill on board a plane bound for Peru, where they were supposed to attend the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC). Upon arriving in the Philippines, Mr. Arroyo was promptly brought to St. Luke's where he was diagnosed with infectious diarrhea. - Mark D. Merueñas/RJAB Jr./LBG, GMANews.TV