Howie Severino. Image: Instagram/@howiesev
Veteran journalist Howie Severino marked Christmas Day in the hospital as he had to get checked due to back pain.
Severino gave an update on his health through his Instagram page on Wednesday, Dec. 25, showing himself holding a book and a pencil while lying in the hospital bed at an emergency room.
“On Christmas Day, after the festive hubbub of the previous night, I found myself in the ER, trying to find out if my back pain was the symptom of something serious,” Severino said.
“X-rays showed no fracture and the doctor on Xmas duty thinks it’s a muscle strain from some heavy lifting I did in our garden,” he stated.
Severino then recalled carrying a toog tree seedling a few days prior, which might have caused his back pain. Toog is a kind of rosewood that when fully grown, its trunk is used as timber.
“It was much heavier than it looked, and I probably didn’t carry it in a safe way,” he said. “I should have known better. Toog is known as one of the tallest native trees in the Philippines. Even a young one wanted to leave an impression.”
Sharing the “lesson” he learned from what happened, Severino said, “Don’t overestimate my strength, and don’t underestimate a toog.”