DevOps, CI/CD and Automation

I am using PEAR DB as abstraction layer with oracle and PHP.

I have 2 issues.

1. OCI-Lob->read(), OCI-Lob->load() returns empty string. I read that it is a known bug in PHP (http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38612). I guess I will have to upgrade my php.

My question is since I am using PEAR DB, will this still be a problem? Will I need an upgrade anyways.

2. I want to know how to access a clob with PEAR DB. Suppose I have a column name "content" which is clob. How do I access it in PEAR DB?
$row = $result->fetchRow();
echo $row['content'];

OR

$row = $result->fetchRow(DB_FETCHMODE_OBJECT);

OR

$row = $result->fetchRow(OCI_RETURN_LOBS);

??

Thanks in advance.