Saying goodbye to Cardinal Vidal

Ricky Poca

His Eminence Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal is dead, and he will be missed by the people, especially the Cebuanos who loved him so much.

Cardinal Vidal shall be remembered by the people as fatherly, kind, generous, forgiving, humble and very prayerful.

In the few occasions that I had the opportunity to meet and interact with Cardinal Vidal, I found him very humble and approachable unlike some priests, who are very strict and difficult to approach.

In his years of service as priest, bishop and cardinal, Vidal became so close to the Cebuano people. He was not from Cebu, but he fell in love with Cebu that is why he chose to live and eventually die here in Cebu.

Cardinal Vidal was loved by the Cebuanos that he was accepted, as one of us; thus, he became himself a Cebuano.

I also heard that Cardinal Vidal would crack jokes several times, but it was his penchant to accommodate people’s requests and pleas that endeared him to the Cebuanos.

It is unfortunate that he is now gone, and with his passing, I failed to even visit his wake at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. This is because I have been avoiding large crowds because of my health condition.

I have however included in my daily prayers — I pray for the eternal repose of the soul of the good cardinal because we, Cebuanos, owe him a lot.
Farewell, Your Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, until we meet each other again. May God grant you all the blessings, and rest in peace.

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Last week, I underwent an operation in my tummy to insert a catheter in preparation for my shifting to peritoneal dialysis. I thank God and Mama Mary that the operation was successful.

I would also express my sincerest gratitude to my surgeon, Dr. Peter Mancao; and my anesthesiologist, Dr. Alfonso del Prado. I am also sincerely grateful to those people, who had facilitated the shift like Dr. Rene Catan of the province of Cebu; and those who had helped me in one way or the other like my siblings: Jackie Noerenberg, Chingbee Cuizon, Jun Poca and Tony del Prado. I am also grateful to Mike Rama, who made the operation possible.

Although it has become a priority program under the present administration of Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, it is unfortunate that in our country, especially in Cebu, peritoneal dialysis is still not that popular. But as I make the shift, next week — for three days — my partner and I would undergo training about this kind of treatment like how and when to do it and where to do it at the Carcar Provincial Hospital under a trained peritoneal dialysis (PD) nurse. They are going to require us to do or keep our room clean and sanitized in order to avoid infection.

Peritoneal dialysis can be done at home or even in the workplace, where one would drain liquid from one’s stomach and then pour in a solution. I have been asked why I shifted to peritoneal dialysis from hemodialysis. The answer is simple — peritoneal dialysis is affordable and accessible. It is also convenient because it can be done at home and one can live a normal life like one can get to work, can travel and even play golf.

Hemodialysis, on the other hand, is very costly even with the subsidy from PhilHealth. It can only be done in a dialysis center where the patient will have to stay for four hours for the treatment.

A PD nurse had already informed me through videos on how PD works. Abroad, their program has always been PD first because it is more practical and cost efficient.

By the middle of November when my operation would have been completely healed, I would then undergo peritoneal dialysis at home. I have already prepared my room like cleaning and sanitizing it already. I have also trained myself to always wash and sanitize my hands, an important requirement, to avoid infection, which is a problem in peritoneal dialysis.

I am grateful to God and Mama Mary for peritoneal dialysis, and I wish and pray that more end stage kidney disease patients would shift and avail of this treatment.