Mike Arroyo leaves hospital sans back pains

"The pain has been resolved."

These were First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo's first and only words when he emerged from the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City to face the media on Friday, a week after undergoing a spinal column surgery to ease his back pains. A radio report said Dr. Juliet Lopez-Cervantes, Mr. Arroyo's main attending physician, then took over answering questions for the First Gentleman, saying his condition was already "asymptomatic." In describing the said condition, Cervantes said: "There are no more pains. The pain he felt before is gone and we just had physical rehabilitation [earlier in the day]." The First Gentleman was supposed to stay in the hospital until after his 64th birthday on June 27. But the "remarkable improvement" of his condition prompted doctors to discharge him earlier than scheduled, Cervantes said. Mr. Arroyo was admitted to the hospital on June 17 — two days before the surgery — to remedy his recurring back pains. A team of 12 doctors performed the surgery. Last March, he was admitted to the same hospital due to the redissection of his thoracic aorta. "Hopefully in the coming weeks, he will be able to do what he was previously doing, including traveling and doing his favorite work," Cervantes said. Radio dzBB's Nimfa Ravelo said Mr. Arroyo seemed to have lost weight since the spine surgery was conducted. The First Gentleman will return to St. Luke's on July 1 for a follow-up examination. Fetching Mr. Arroyo from the hospital were his sons Representatives Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo and Diosdado Macapagal "Dato" Arroyo, and his grandchildren. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was not there. 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). — Mark Merueñas/RSJ, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV