Dr. Rodrigo Oliveira. (Photo by Ana Selaibe)
Ever since he was little, Rodrigo Oliveira was sure he wanted to be a doctor, even without understanding why.
His uncle Isaiah, also a doctor, tried to dissuade him from the profession. He said that the medical market was bad, and to illustrate his argument he used an analogy, which Oliveira remembers to this day: “Imagine a jug of milk and the state of São Paulo. The milk jug is the doctors, and the state of Sao Paulo overflowing.”
Today, at age 48, Oliveira is an ENT doctor specializing in the head and neck, which means he treats patients with cancer and anomalies in these areas. As he usually says, his area of interest goes from the eyes to the chain necklace. At the same time that he heals many patients, Oliveira suffers from a disease.
Ankylosing Spondylitis, which he inherited from his father, is a rheumatic disease that causes a stiffening of the spine. It results in some physical limitations that are treated with intravenous medication and physical exercises. Spondylitis is a chronic, incurable disease that will accompany him for the rest of his life.
But that has never stopped him from doing new things.
Recently, Oliveira went to Benin, Africa, as part of a surgical mission organized by his friend and neighbor, Alex, and Alex’s wife, Juliet. When the opportunity arose, Oliveira did not hesitate.
His trip to Africa was his first and came with several risks. The place was poor and in bad condition, but all he and the other doctors wanted was to help as many people as they could. The surgical mission shocked him because the people there didn’t have food or a hospital. The team helped a total of 60 people with various problems.
The team comprised three surgeons, three anesthesiologists, two nurses, an instrumentation technician, a nursing assistant, a cook and two translators of French, the official language of Benin. Curiously, the translators were daughters of a former colleague from Oliveira’s college.
Not only in professional life were there coincidences, but in his love life as well. Oliveria knew the love of his life in the workplace, but, like every good love story, the happily-ever-after was not easy to achieve.
When they met, Monique Nakayama Ohe was a resident and Oliveira was a doctor. Four years later, when Ohe was doing her master’s degree on the parathyroid, she went looking for Oliveira, at the urging of her counsellor, who advised her to look for someone specializing in the head and neck area.
Ohe and Oliveira were already married to other people when they fell in love. In fact, they already knew each other before their first marriages.
Monique remembers it being the opposite of love at first sight. “I found it very odd,” she recalls. She adds: “Learn this: love is when you pick on someone.”
Today, they have been together for 14 years and have two children, Maria Yumi and Rafael Kenzo.
To represent their relationship, Monique tells the story of two little monkeys who lived apart. One of them lived in a tree contemplating the sky, without remembering to eat, while the other lived in the ground, picking berries and worrying, without taking time to look up. One day, the little monkey fell from the tree, and ended up meeting with the monkey on the ground.
He learned from the one that lived on the ground what to take care of, while he taught the other to contemplate nature more. Monique is the monkey of the land, with its rules and routines, and Rodrigo, the tree monkey, who forgets to eat amid so many activities and inspirations. Together they complement each other.
In addition to practicing medicine, Oliveira is also a drummer in a band called CRM 7 (Regional Medical Council, and the seven is from when they started playing in 2007), that he formed with some of his former residence students. They rehearse every Thursday, in a studio, and have performed some shows in the evenings in São Paulo.
Oliveria is always trying to get deep in everything he does. When he began to dive, he took the basic course, the intermediate and then reached the advanced level. When he started horseback riding, he bought a horse, started jumping and then took horseback riding lessons.
Living by the philosophy of “Know you first,” Oliveria believes there is an important tripod in his life. For him, it is necessary to have a profession, personal fulfillment and spiritual development to have a full life.
He also loves motorcycles, and November he will make a 15-day trip to the salt desert of Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, and then pass through the Atacama Desert in Chile.
