Fernando Contreras reveals Balaguer died one day before discharge from hospital – El Nuevo Diario (Dominican Republic)

“New Diary”, Santo Domingo. – Renowned gastroenterologist Fernando Contreras revealed on Sunday that former President Joaquín Balaguer died the day before he was undergoing treatment after the medical team treating him managed to Severe stomach bleeding prevented him from being taken to the Abreu Clinic. capital.

The most influential politician of the last 50 years in the Dominican Republic died in the early hours of Sunday, July 14, 2002, and on Saturday preparations were being made for the 13th to send him home on Monday, according to Dr. Contreras . The 15th of the month.

In an interview with Hector Herrera Cabral on the “D’Agenda” program, the doctor explained that he had always questioned the manner in which the nonagenarian politician would die, but that he was absolutely sure Little did he know that many years later it would be his turn to become an important political figure. Character in his final days.

He also recalled that he grew up in a generation where the President of the Republic was synonymous with Joaquín Balaguer.

He recalls that the last thing he did was develop a huge ulcer in his stomach, and they could never tell if it was malignant, and while the biopsy showed it was benign, they were superficial. The incident that brought him to the clinic was a bleed, and although they were able to stop it, he bleeds again a second time.

“Because they’re one of those things that when you’re that old and have so many medical problems, we have to decide whether to anticoagulate him because he’s had so many neurological events,” the doctor explained.

He added, “When we got the bleeding under control we started him on anticoagulation again and he came back bleeding and in the second incident he vomited blood and we had to intubate him and miraculously Yes, when he was 96 years old, we were able to extubate him.” “

“The strange thing is that he died while his condition was stable, that is, he died on Sunday morning. On Saturday night we had a meeting in the same room with him. I think Pedro Barber Dr. Lo Paredes was there, along with others. The plan was to go to his house on Sunday morning and get everything ready because we were going to discharge him on Monday, but the man’s plans decided to send him to a better place that day Look for him,” the doctor said. Specializes in the digestive tract.

The leak limited his spirit, but when Ippolito, the Cardinal, or Lionel visited him, he responded immediately.

Dr. Fernando Contreras, who helped former President Joaquín Balaguer in his final days, said he was happy to see him in perfect physical and mental condition, but when he provided medical At the time of nursing care, his condition had deteriorated significantly.

“He had had a stroke before, he was not far away from the hemorrhage, and the fact was that he had very limited physical and mental capabilities at the time, and I tell you, there were only three people who went to visit him, and he responded almost immediately, and they were Hipolito Mejía, then President of the Republic, Cardinal Nicolás de Jesus López Rodríguez and former President Lionel Fernández,” revealed the renowned gastroenterologist road.

He added, “Those were his most conscious moments and his mental state was so bad that when he was sitting he wanted to stand and when he was lying down he wanted to sit.”

“I can’t say that I had the conversation with him that I would have liked to have, to get some information from that privileged brain, from a life that was so controversial for so many people, but, I would say, exceptional,” Dr. Contreras said. : “For everyone, with or without their political flag, and its lights and shadows. “

He said the country had to thank former President Joaquin Balaguer for many things, even though the sun could not put its finger on the shadow of his administration.

Gastroenterologist says he has never met a nobler, more grateful patient in his life than Freddy Beras Goico

Freddy Beras Goico, another influential figure in the country’s public life and a patient of Dr. Fernando Contreras, said, Dr. Fernando Contreras lives a very organized life. In addition to being grateful for life, he also treats his illness with a great sense of nobility. and his family.

“The fact is that Freddie lived a very organized life and maybe his only risk factor was that he was always overweight, I think he smoked once but he doesn’t smoke anymore, he hardly drank and before he sought medical attention he It’s not my patient’s problem, but unfortunately the tumor he had was not avoidable or detectable early,” Galen said.

He added, “I would like to take this opportunity to say that I never imagined that his human qualities were so high that I can tell you that I don’t think I have ever met a nobler and more grateful patient. “The life, the care, his family, he gave me more satisfaction than Freddy Beras Goico did in the five years I treated him. “

The doctor said he could understand the appreciation and value people had for Freddy when he was his patient because he was a noble, broad-minded man.

Calls pancreatic and gallbladder cancers deadliest cancers, defines miracle cure for hepatitis C

Gastroenterologist Fernando Contreras said the most aggressive cancerous tumors are pancreatic and vesicular cancers, but warned that without early detection, the liver, esophagus, stomach and colon cancer also pose risks.

“Pancreatic cancer has several problems. It is an organ with extremely rich blood vessels. It is located very deep in the abdominal cavity. There are two types. One is cystic, which is generally not very aggressive. It has precancerous lesions. You can find It and follow-up…these patients almost never die, but pancreatic cancer is the most common, generally speaking, very advanced tumors, depending on their location, are almost always found and can be very aggressive,” he said.

Contreras clarified that even for patients who are candidates for surgery, “when we operate on them, as people say, it’s thought that it’s not irrigated, but the fact is, when we analyze that segment, it’s almost always It’s irrigated.”

“So the most you can do in these cases is prolong life, but unfortunately treatment, radiation and chemotherapy are still very effective today, albeit a little less effective than they were a few years ago,” he noted.

However, Fernando Contreras noted that most inoperable cancer patients survive less than a year, whereas when they can be operated on and receive adequate treatment, they can survive up to five years.

When it comes to gallbladder cancer, a leading gastroenterologist says that while the condition is very rare, the reality is that these are the kinds of news that neither patients nor doctors want to receive.

“I always say this is the cancer you don’t want to get, I’m more afraid of gallbladder cancer than pancreatic cancer, luckily it’s not that common, or I would say it’s rare and there’s almost no way to diagnose it early enough,” the medical expert warned.

He said one of the conditions that could lead to gallbladder cancer is if a patient has polyps in that organ, and although in most cases the polyps are benign, everyone who receives this diagnosis should be followed up every six months for their size, or Per year.

“So if the polyp grows to one centimeter, you have to be ruthless and have the gallbladder removed, because it is an adenoma and a precancerous lesion. When it grows to one centimeter, the possibility of developing into cancer is much higher.”, he detailed illustrate.

Doctors insist that this is the cancer no one wants to have because colon cancer is still detected and potentially curable, but just like pancreatic cancer is never caught in time, gallbladder cancer is similar.

When it comes to hepatitis C, abdominal disease experts say the days when one in three cirrhosis patients died from the viral disease are a thing of the past.

“As for hepatitis C, it’s the cuckoo of viral hepatitis because most people infected are not cured, we don’t have adequate treatments, and almost a third of them die, which is due to cirrhosis of the liver caused by this virus. Consequences. “Today we have not one, but three miracle drugs because we cannot say another word about taking a chronic disease that almost no one can cure and today it is cured,” he revealed road.

He added, “One pill a day for eight to 12 weeks, depending on the drug we use, we can give it to anyone with hepatitis C, even if they have advanced disease, and in fact more than 99 percent of patients in an advanced state.” was cured, and thanks to this huge advance, almost no one will die from hepatitis C today. “

In a separate order, the prominent doctor called on people to take precautions over the quality of water for human consumption and household use following last weekend’s torrential downpours, recommending that water be boiled and chlorinated. The same caution must be taken with food, especially those that must be air-conditioned, as the same phenomenon can cause electrical service to be disrupted for several hours, and in many cases, it can cause more damage or even outage a few days.

Dr. Contreras also called for avoiding excessive intake of alcoholic beverages and typical foods of the season during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

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