Lucy says Richard’s COVID-19 battle ‘mental as much as physical’
Lucy Torres recently opened up on her husband Richard Gomez’s battle and recovery from COVID-19.
Last month, the actor-turned-mayor of Ormoc city said he contracted the virus although his symptoms were considered “mild and manageable.” Lucy, who’s also the representative of Leyte’s 4th District, has not left Ormoc since February so she was able to take care of her husband as he dealt with the virus.
While giving a health update on Richard, Lucy shared that the thing with COVID is that the whole family goes through it just as much as the patient.
“You know how it is when it’s been COVID this and COVID that for over a year, and then it hits home. And then it becomes so real, more real than it ever was,” Lucy said during a recent virtual presscon.
“Not that it wasn’t before he got it. No, because we knew a lot of other people that got COVID. But it’s one of those things that when one person goes through with it, the whole family goes through it.”
She described the whole experience as “a mental battle as much as it was physical.” So, she added, they learned to cope by shutting out things that could potentially worsen Richard’s condition.
“I wanted to make sure that we guarded our peace, we guarded our emotional health because I always believed what my lola used to say before and when I also studied traditional Chinese medicine that where the mind goes the body follows. So, all energy at that time must be used for healing and positivity,” Lucy said.
“And you just shut off because a lot of people, when you go through that, the tendency is to panic because you read about so many other cases of other people going through the same thing. And I realized that it’s a very personal and very individual journey so he listened to his doctor. For me, that’s how we coped, you listen to your doctor and then you stop there, you stop reading about all other cases because that is not your case.”
She further said that in the case of Richard, they had to take it one day at a time, especially as the mere thought of having COVID can be overwhelming.
“It’s not like the regular flu, you know, that in a week’s time, it’s gone. It can go so many different ways, right? So yeah, you really take it a day at a time. It’s like being on the battlefield. Okay, today, what do we do today? And you don’t think too far ahead. You don’t worry too much. Because you just put up a fight daily, you show up daily.”
Lucy was grateful that her former athlete husband’s healing period happened when the Olympics was ongoing.
“I’m really thankful because you know Richard, he’s very energetic. He doesn’t want to stay put. So, I am just thankful that it happened at the time when the Olympics was on because otherwise I’d have a very difficult time making him stay put. And then if he doesn’t stay put, he will deplete his energy. If he has no energy, how can he heal, right? I mean, if he has no energy, how can he rest, how can he heal?” she said.
“I’m glad that the Olympics was on and I could distract him with the Olympics. Otherwise, I’d have to handcuff him to me because I’m like his mother. Many times I’d wake up and he’s already downstairs and so I go down and then I am always reminding him, ‘Don’t walk too much and conserve your energy.’”
Lucy said that Richard is now back to work at the city hall. “But I always remind him to take it easy.”
Despite the COVID-19 health scare, Lucy told The STAR that she’s been trying to focus on the “silver linings” during this pandemic. One of these is the opportunity to bond more with Richard and their 20-year-old daughter Juliana.
She said, “There are so many silver linings for me in this pandemic because if you recall when Richard became mayor in 2016, we spent a lot of time apart, we’d only see each other during the weekends because he was based here in Ormoc. So, now, we are really making up for lost time. Our little family of three, we’re together every day. Richard cooks a lot of our meals while Juliana bakes.”
She added, “There are so many things that we can wish were different in this pandemic. But I always choose to look at the blessings, the silver linings, and it’s time together that I cherish the most. And it’s time together that I do not take for granted.”
When asked how’s her 23-year marriage doing during this time, she reflected, “Sayaw lang naman talaga ‘yan. I’m not saying that every day is good. There are days na stressed siya or ako yung stressed, the important thing is ‘wag mo siyang sabayan. You know when to stay quiet. You know when to let him be, when to let each other be or when to give each other space.
“When you know your spouse very well, even without words, ramdam mo na ano yung sayaw mo for the day. Are you going to be quiet, dapat ba entertainer ka, dapat ba hayaan mo lang siya? So, it’s really being sensitive to what your partner or what your spouse needs, knowing also that iba-iba yung emotions for the day.”
Meanwhile, Lucy couldn’t escape questions about her political plans for the coming 2022 national elections. She disclosed that Richard will run for a seat in congress, but denied her rumored senatorial run is final.
“I am definitely filing but for what position? It’s still fluid. I really don’t know. It’s not like running for higher office is my only dream or only option, you know,” she said.
“Especially when you go through what we went through the past month, it really puts everything in perspective. And as much as I don’t want to talk about politics, I think the priority now should really be COVID response and how we can all survive this as a people and as a nation.
“Parang everything pales in comparison in the grand scheme of things when you really think about it. We’re all fighting the same battle, really. And it’s this white walker that we know as COVID.
“But yeah, we do know that the 2022 election is coming up and di talaga maiwasan ang tanong na ‘yan. And yes, I am weighing my options. That is the honest answer.”
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