Dolphy rallies, back on dialysis

Dolphy. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/MIKE ALQUINTO

MANILA, Philippines—Dolphy underwent dialysis anew “because his vitals have improved,” the comedian’s son Eric Quizon announced Saturday, calling the development “a really good sign.”

Dolphy first underwent kidney dialysis at 2:40 p.m. on Thursday, Quizon disclosed, adding that the procedure helped improve his father’s condition by removing toxins and excess fluid from his body.

But doctors discontinued the dialysis on Friday after the comedian’s heart rate shot up and his blood pressure went down, Quizon said. This was resumed at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday upon orders of Dolphy’s doctors, he added.

“His doctors want to perform this for eight hours today,” Quizon told reporters at Makati Medical Center (MMC) in Makati City, where his father had been confined since last week. “This is a really, really good sign. He’s been stable for the last two days.”

But the actor-director said his dad was still at a critical stage, pointing out that Dolphy still had pneumonia.

“It is what has been making his lungs very weak. He is taking antibiotics to help cure this,” Quizon said. “However, the doctors said that, somehow, my daddy’s heart is very, very strong.”

Most of his children here

He added: “He’s more responsive today compared to yesterday. He seemed to be communicating with us by opening his eyes. I guess this was because almost all of his children were already here.”

Quizon added that the doctors were trying to find the cause of a hemorrhage. “They can’t perform surgery on him. They’re saying this could be in the stomach. Since this is where his medicines pass through, the stomach lining could be thinning. It could also be in the colon or in the intestines.”

Quizon said his father was still on a respirator Friday night.

“This pumps in oxygen and takes out carbon dioxide from his body,” he explained. “He is also attached to an IV (intravenous) line in his shoulder. This was because the veins in his arms have already collapsed. His medicines pass through this main line. He is also being fed through a tube in his nose.”

Dolphy’s other son, former actor Rolly Quizon, on Thursday said doctors had given his father only 24 hours to 48 hours to live but the comedian’s marked improvement proved them wrong.

Visit from boss

Eric Quizon, on Friday, clarified this by saying: “What doctors said was that it could happen at any time. This could be within 24 to 48 hours, or more.”

Manny V. Pangilinan, chair of TV5 and Dolphy’s boss, visited the legendary comic in the intensive care unit Saturday upon his return from Hong Kong.

Unlike most celebrity-visitors who could only gaze at Dolphy from behind a glass window, Pangilinan was allowed into the room.

“I touched his hand,” he recounted. “Mang Dolphy appears to be quite strong. He had just finished his dialysis at that time so he was a bit drowsy. But he could hear us. And you could clearly see that he’s a fighter.”

Before leaving, Pangilinan told Dolphy, “We planned a big trip to Hong Kong, you better be back on your feet by then.”

The comedian loves Hong Kong, explained Pangilinan.

“Mang Dolphy used to tell me that he was among the first OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) in Hong Kong,” Pangilinan told the Inquirer in an exclusive interview at MMC. “He worked as a performer in a dance club, along with another comedian, Bayani Casimiro, in the 1950s. Hong Kong was quite poor then. The peso was more valuable than the HK dollar.”

Pangilinan, who is also the chair of MMC, is pulling out all the stops to make Dolphy’s hospital stay as “comfortable as possible.”

“I’ve already talked to Rose Montenegro, the president of MMC,” Pangilinan said. “I want to make sure that he’s well taken care of and that all his medical needs are met with dispatch.”

Pangilinan told the Inquirer that a dialysis machine was set up in Dolphy’s room.

“He doesn’t need to be brought down for his dialysis treatments,” he said. “There’s a lot of high-tech equipment in his room. It’s like a scene from the movie, ‘Iron Man.’”