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CEBU CITY, Philippines ? Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said Tuesday he missed celebrating Christmas in Cebu.
His New Year?s Eve will also be spent at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for his third cycle of chemotherapy.
The mayor, his wife Margot and son Miguel are in Los Angeles where they will spend Christmas.
They arrived in LA on December 22 from Houston.
?I?m in between my rest period and chemo. My next chemo is set on December 30 so I will spend New Year at the hospital,? he said.
?I will miss Cebu this Christmas but I know that the city is in good hands,? Osmeña told Cebu Daily News in a text message on Tuesday.
He said they would have a get-together with Margot?s siblings on Christmas Eve.
?All my friends live far apart and it?s hard to get to meet them. Some are going out of their way to see me,? said Tomas, who lived in LA for 15 years before returning to Cebu in the late 1980s.
The mayor is expected to undergo five months of chemotherapy for his cancer of the urinary bladder.
The first was in mid-November and the second was on December 4 to 6.
He would rest for two to three weeks before undergoing another cycle.
Osmeña said he kept himself indoors because it was chilly outside.
He said that apart from hair loss, he had not experienced other side effects of the chemotherapy such as vomiting.
?No vomiting although they gave me lots of medication for nausea. Never had to take it even once,? he said.
?Oh, I haven?t lost weight the last three weeks although I?m trying to trim my waistline,? said Tomas.
The mayor earlier shaved his head to deal with severe hair loss due to the chemotherapy.
To show solidarity with his father, son Miguel picked up the razor and shaved off his hair too. /Reporter Marian Z. Codilla
