Doctors favor longer hospital stay for Napoles

The emotional and physical crisis and stress being experienced by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles have aggravated her medical condition, her attending physicians said Wednesday as they recommended that her court-ordered discharge from hospital be deferred.

In a press conference, Drs. Elsie Badillo-Pascua and Efren Domingo of St. Luke's Medical Center and Florentina Villanueva of Ospital ng Makati said Napoles, who they said has diabetes and hypertension, needs complete bed rest.

“Merong syang severe diabetes and hypertension, meron siyang emotional and personal crisis and stress. Ito ay naging matindi nitong dalawang linggo. Ang krisis sa katawan at isip nagpapataas ng cortisol, tumataas din tuloy ang diabetes,” Domingo said.

“Pag tumaas ang diabetes, nagkakaroon ng inflammation, pamamaga sa sugat at ang sugat na namamaga sa kanya malamang ay ang vaginal vault kung saan kami nag-alis ng matris,” he added.

Because of Napoles' present situation, the doctors recommended that her discharge from the hospital, which has already been ordered by the court handling her serious illegal detention case, be deferred.

“Sa condition na ganito, it requires hospitalization and we ordered a defer discharge. Kami ay nagmungkahi na wag siyang paalisin sa ospital on the medical point of view. We are in full agreement that she requires hospitalization by virtue of this present evolution of her complication,” Domingo said.

Napoles is in the process of completing the affidavit, through the help of her lawyers, regarding the pork barrel scam that she will submit to the Office of the Ombudsman. She underwent total hysterectomy and a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy or removal of her entire uterus and both ovaries late April at the Ospital ng Makati.

"Binat"

The doctors earlier gave Napoles a surgical and gynecological clearance, meaning she can already be discharged from the hospital as she has fully recovered and was in a stable condition. They said they found the sudden development in her health "surprising."

“Kami ay nagulat dahil day 29 na after operation (nung mangyari itong komplikasyon), dapat unawain na merong inherent characteristics kay Mrs. Napoles. Dapat tandaan na siya ay post operative case, maari siyang mabinat,” said Domingo.

He said the situation of Napoles is rare, adding that bleeding normally happens on the 17th to 20th day after operation.

“Rare as it is nangyayari talaga ito because of inherent existing conditions unique just to her,” said Domingo.

He said aside from giving Napoles medicines through intravenous therapy (IV), they advised her not to move a lot.

“Ayaw namin siyang pabayaang gumalaw. Ni-request namin na magkaroon ng commode, ang pagdumi at pag-ihi ay sa tabi na rin ng bed. So far kami ay masaya at nauunawaan niya kami at siya ay susunod sa aming request na complete bed rest,” he said.

Don't worry

The doctors also advised Napoles to cease from worrying.

“Nakikiusap kami na kung pwede ay maging mahinahon, maging mapagpahinga at maniwalang gagaling at magiging maayos ang takbo ng sitwasyon,” said Domingo.

Asked until when Napoles will stay in the hospital, Domingo said he does not know. “I don't know how soon she will recover and how long she will have to stay in a hospital.”

Villanueva said they will do a day-to-day assessment of Napoles' condition.

“Doctors will recommend based on what is happening kasi may pagdudugo, the recommendation now of the medical team is to defer discharge first and give antibiotics and hopefully the bleeding will stop and there will be no more complication afterward. Kaya day to day tayo muna,” she said.

Another operation possible

If Napoles' condition will not improve, the doctors will need to bring her to the operating room to check on her vaginal vault and see what is causing the bleeding. She will be under anesthesia during the operation.

Badillo-Pascua said what they are giving to Napoles now is conservative treatment in the hope that the bleeding will stop with the help of medicines and complete bed rest. He said bringing Napoles to the operating room is called an invasive procedure.

She said Ospital ng Makati contacted them on May 19 to report the heavy vaginal bleeding being experienced by Napoles. She said they immediately ordered that the patient be given medicine. Badillo-Pascua and Domingo visited Napoles Tuesday evening.

Napoles' lawyers submitted around 2:15 p.m. before Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 the motion to recall and reconsider its order dated May 19.

Lawyer Diosfa Valencia, branch clerk of court , said the hearing on the motion will be on Friday, May 23, at 1:30 p.m. —KBK, GMA News