BACK TO THE LION’S DEN

Last June 27, the aging lion declared a recess to his fraternal brothers and friends saying he will return to Manila after less than a month’s stay at his den nursing his injured right foot. But let him start this story from the time he and his tamer disembarked from the Superferry II at Tagbilaran City last June 8.

Uncomfortably inconvenienced by the accident that he suffered while still in the big city last May, he and his tamer decided to disembark straight to the Ramiro Community Hospital to have his swollen right ankle operated on. The night before while the ship was still cruising the straits of Cebu, she called Dr. Ronald Ramiro and explained the lion’s worsening condition, whereupon the good doctor replied that the resident physician on duty will attend to the wound when at the hospital and after the usual paperwork, the incision on his swollen right ankle will be performed. This was done and later they were also advised to return two days after for possible complications. Proceeding to Guindulman later in the day, he felt relieved and expected that his painfully injured foot will soon be a thing of the past.

But it was not so. The attending physician, after examining the wound referred the lion to two other physicians, one a lady internest and the other a surgeon who, which he said, can attend to the lion’s wound much better. While he did not say so in so many words, it was evident he was not at par with the job at hand, and so the referral to other medical professionals was unavoidable!

The lady internest promptly prescribed that the lion submit himself to so many medical tests obviously to determine the lion’s medical condition especially as it relates to his being a diabetic while the surgeon reopened the wound, scraped the rotting tissue which made the lion whimper in silent agony prompting the surgeon to ask if the lion’s tolerance to pain is high enough and got the epic reply that “if the lion collapsed while he was still on his job, then the lion’s tolerance to pain has already been surpassed .”

Four more trips to the surgeon at and the internest were made, with the former doing the scraping and applying the medicinal ointment and with the latter continuing her questions and prescribing medicines without the wound getting healed. Worse, body fever was already continually being experienced by the aging lion. Meantime, the three cubs back home were daily asking for their patriarch’s condition via long distance and not getting any positive reply, decided to cajole their dad to return to the big city and have the wound treated there. And what better recourse is there than send an SOS email to Ka Billy del Rosario, chief orthopedic surgeon at St Lukes who promptly prescribed an antibiotic that costs thrice the antibiotic that the local surgeon prescribed.?!

By June 27, the lion tamer and his aging pet boarded Superferry I and after two days at sea proceeded straight to the hospital where Ka Billy was already waiting. Upon opening the wound, he declared the problem was not really that serious but could have been had the trip been unduly delayed. “Hematoma”, he said, and promptly treated the wound with expert ease as no other doctor in the country could. He also replaced the antibiotic that he earlier prescribed saying he earlier had to prescribe a more potent medicine while were still in Bohol because at that time, he has not yet seen the condition of the injury. Having made his first treatment, he then prescribed a less-potent antibiotic and declared the injury already well controlled. He also ordered the aging lion to drink a small bottle of Yakult after every meal to replenish the good bacteria that the antibiotic also kills together with the bad bacteria that hinders the revitalization of the tissue that was indispensably needed to heal the wound. For his part, Ka Albert Encarnacion was also very generous to provide the aging lion with a crutch that enabled the latter to move around to support his still sturdy left leg.

And four more medical visits after that, the last which was last July 20, whereupon the lion asked from the good doctor permission to return to his den. Ka Billy said it will be okay provided the lion will keep in close contact and if need be, send a photograph of the still-limping right foot should medical assistance still be needed. Meanwhile, the prescribed medicines, including the small Yakult bottle taken after every meal will still be necessary.

And the rest became programmed medical therapy. But looking back while already at the lion’s den, he thought it could have been worse and most probably with the lion’s right foot dismembered had not Doc Billy treated it.. The medical procedures that were done at the province which resulted in worsening the injury involved the following:

1. The resident physician incised the swelling skin to flush out the fluid that resulted from the accident earlier. What should have been done was to prick the swollen skin to get the liquid out and in time, the swollen skin would have healed by itself.

2. The surgeon committed the mistake of instructing that the wound be cleaned by tap water. At the big city, Doc Billy declared that cleansing of the wound with tap water exposed the wound to harmful bacteria and therefore prolonged the healing process. From the time the wound was treated by Doc Billy, it has not undergone tap water cleansing..

3. The gauze bandage prescribed by the local doctor was of the general type which protected the wound from exposure. Doc Billy prescribed a gauze bandage that is sterilized by the manufacturer thus shutting off the possibility of bacterial contamination.


4. The antibiotic that was described earlier and replaced from time to time by Doc. Billy to achieve maximum results, no doubt played a vital role in the recuperation. The knowledge of medical professionals in the big city on modern medicines do augurs well on the patient’s speedy recovery.

The lion is now back at his den silently murmuring: “Whew, what a close call. Were it not for Doc Billy, the aging lion would most probably be limping with but a single foot remaining!!