The family doctor of the former president of the Uruguay Jose Mujica gives a press conference at the headquarters of the Popular Participation Movement (MPP) to provide details of your illness.
This Monday Mujica announced that he suffers from esophageal cancer. Without giving many details, the former president assured that he “is very complicated” due to a pre-existing immunological disease – which he has suffered for more than 20 years – that prevents him from carrying out correct treatment.
For this reason, the former president’s family doctor, Raquel Pannone, He gives details of his illness at the MPP headquarters. The doctor has been treating Mujica since before he was president of the Uruguay.
During the press conference at the headquarters of the Popular Participation Movement (MPP), Panone said that the president had digestive tract discomfort, so he consulted with her on April 15. From there, last Friday they performed a digestive endoscopy that showed that the former president has a tumor in his esophagus.
The doctor stated that Mujica suffers from esophageal cancer but that he does not have any lesion in another organ. “This lesion is limited to the esophagus and has no involvement in any other territory,” she clarified.
Your treatment and prognosis
Panone clarified that Mujica’s disease has three possible treatments: chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy. The doctor clarified that, based on Pepe’s characteristics, being a person of almost 89 years old and with an immunological disease and kidney failure, the best thing would be to treat the disease with radiotherapy.
This treatment is one of the most convenient for this type of disease, the doctor said, which she described as good news. Meanwhile, she announced that the treatment will begin next week, which would last between 5 and 10 minutes and would be done from Monday to Friday.
For his part, he said that there is still some time left to obtain a prognosis and that we must be patient. “We have to evaluate the response to this treatment and this path has just begun. We have this fight that Pepe decided to take and we are going to accompany him,” he assured.
Regarding the objective of the treatment, the doctor announced that the greatest achievement would be the cure. “The ultimate goal is cure, while the intermediate goal is long survival and good quality of life,” she explained.
Offers
The doctor was in charge of thanking doctors and prestigious institutions around the world, such as Argentina, Brazil, United States and countries of Europe, who offered to help in the treatment of Pepe Mujica.
However, he announced that, by decision of the former president together with his wife, Lucia Topolansky, They chose to be treated in the Cor Clinicthat depends of Casmu. “We have the technical conditions to do it and obtain a good result,” said the doctor.
Before being Pepe Mujica, he is a person
Dr. Panone highlighted from the beginning of the press conference the importance of understanding that the political figure is a person, so the treatment will be respectful of the patient’s preferences.
In that sense, regarding the offers of other international institutions to treat the former president, Panone explained why it is not the best option. “Separating Pepe for more than forty days from Lucía, from the farm, from the militancy and from his companions is something that will work against us in recovery,” he remarked.
On the other hand, he highlighted Pepe’s need to continue fighting, a decision that will be respected within the framework of presidential elections. However, he strongly asked that people who approach him take care of him, taking into account that he also suffers from an immunological disease that could complicate treatment. “It is a possibility that we will not see him as much, but it will be difficult for him not to appear. But, at least, we should all be clear that we have to take care of him together,” he stated.
“When we say not to hug him so much, it is not because we are bad, it is to protect him. He cannot catch the diseases that we are going to have this winter,” explained the professional because the treatment and his pre-existing illness will affect his immune system.
Source: Ambito
