Then I finally began to walk the medical path, in another city, with another culture and new brotherlike friends (Mow, Urcas, Zé Colméia, Tatuí, Alce, Saldanha, Pi, Mosca, Goma, Murphy, Ruela, Duço, Naril, Panda, Chico Bento, Dick, etc). There are so many Medical Science reference nicknames nowadays. Laughing, studying, parties, despair, medicine residence tests… those were really good times. Besides that, I had the honor to be chosen as my fellows’ spokesman. In my speech, I said that it was all going to be different. I just didn’t know how much I was correct.

Finally, I became a doctor and began my focused formation with the extremely high estimated Gama couple (Dr. Angelita and Dr. Joaquim Gama). I managed to get among high-level medical professionals, see how they behave, how much they study and how is it that they get to the top. It was when I started to wonder how far I’d want to get in my yet future occupation area. Ethic, selflessness and love for my career – that’s what I learned. It was two years of hard work, sleepless nights, insecurity and many doubts. Once more, I had a new friends group, which would last for all my life (Sidney, Helderson, Ari, Urias, Cassio).

Sometime after that, a new test, new job interview and a new life came: the Urology! And even more friends as well (Laércio, Dr. Luis, Paulo, Marcelo Mattos).

In a given night, we had an emergency (a movie-like one), and we had no time to think. I bet it was everything in the learning flowchart, because there was a life at stake. Many doctors were puzzled about what could be the possible diagnosis. It was already past midnight when Dr. Hugo Hypolito (one of the most estimated Brazilian doctors) arrived. That’s something I will never forget. In just two minutes, he made up a diagnosis and wonderfully did what everyone was insecure to do. I thought, “I want to be like this!” Then the very next day, at seven, I was with everything set in front of his room door, asking him to teach me how can I know what everybody else does not know. This was one my master plays. He used to teach me how to make researches and how to get to the hottest information that was coming up in the whole world (the internet was starting to show up its power) post office hour. That’s when I decided that I had to try something new, somewhere abroad.

And that’s how POLICLINICO DI ROMA WITH TEACHER FRANCO DI SILVERIO (indicazione dal mio amico Dr. Andrea Bottoni) came to my life. Dwelling out of Brazil, mastering Italian, joining hundreds of procedures and travelling around made me come back with a new mindset.

After coming back from Italy, I changed my focus. I felt the need to obtain the notorious knowledge (which we are NEVER getting to feel like we have as a whole!). Then I was invited to work to one of the greatest groups of human reproduction, and so a huge inner battle began within me. I was a well-acknowledged Urologist, with a great background and a Fellowship in Italy. I was already working with many patients, teaching in a graduate course of Human Reproduction and had a Human Reproduction expert title. Yet, when it comes to dealing with female issues, there was a kind of uncertainty whether an Urologist could really solve it, just as a Gynecologist would.

However, how could I prove it in a thorough way?

That’s when I found the Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad to be a great opportunity for me to grow in knowledge. They had a new branch in Sevilha, with Dr. Gloria Calderon in the lab, and Dr. José Navarro as the head of the branch. I saved money, took personal Spanish classes for almost two years and so I went there. A door to a technological and clinical world was opened to me, and many friends came through it as well, as always. By the way, one of them, a young intern, became the famous Dr. Manuel Fernandez later on. It was there in Sevilla that I had one of my greatest life memories. After getting my Fellowship, my wife and my whole family came to me so that we could travel all together. That was such a great moment I had all thanks to my mom. It was AWESOME! One of my life’s pinnacles.

I came back with a lot of invitations, as well as new ideas, which I began to implement. Soon after that, I found myself facing a great challenge: taking the head role of a Human Reproduction group in Brazil. And so did I, having incredible results, for 14 years – due to that double skill I had acquired. Having already quite a background, experience and now exposure at this point, I began to walk an academic way of life and had my first master’s degree (at Santa Casa de São Paulo). And I did it at the Gynecology department, quite a coincidence, isn’t it? I was crossing that line, at last. However, there was still something missing.

In 2011, after getting my Gynecology master’s degree at Santa Casa de São Paulo, I was still feeling unsatisfied, about how further I could go. Until one day, passing by the hallway to a grand friend of mine’s room (Dr. Paulo Serafini, who’s such a great reference in Human Reproduction, just like Dr. Edson Borges Jr.) we had such an unplanned (as always) big talk, in which I told him that I would like to prepare for travelling abroad this time as an expert; not as an intern anymore. Also that I would like to study, create new bonds with other lands through my work and test our own new concepts with them, not theirs. I wanted to go to Belgium (Where Reproductive Medical Science had been born), for I knew that Professor Herman Tournaye had just became a leader there. They had researches regarding semen, embryo freeze, slow releasing medication and natural cycle there. Professor Paulo’s e-mail was quickly responded and there I would go. However, this time I was older, full of bills to pay, had a role to play, appointments, children and problems. I had no money to afford this, there was no way to take everyone with me, stop making money, and take care of everything and so on. That’s when my wife, who’s both my hero and friend, sat down by my side and said, “We will sell everything it’s needed and avoid spending money, the children will be okay with me, you can go. There are so many ideas, so many things you’ve been dreaming of, so many love for what you do… go, and if we can manage to have enough resources, we will make a trip in your coming back.”

Therefore, I went to Bruxelas. I practiced English (thanks to my teacher and friend Newton Cesar), and though I was not so young anymore, I became quite famous in the Reproduction center, because I was an Urologist that could take care of both male and female issues.

Actually, this was not going to be a separate chapter in my life, but a book.

I felt a kind of a fear and excitement jam, along with doubts, wondering that maybe I’d had to live up to 120 years in order to accomplish all I wanted to. Near the end of all that, I had already developed GREAT friendships, just as all the way through my career until then (Christophe Blockeel, Michel Devos – the center’s directors), and had the great opportunity of being invited to a restricted course, which was made only via individual invitation. THAT WAS QUITE AN IMMERSION! I was finally feeling that I was really at a sufficient level to be there, with a very steady academic background. That’s when I met my friend and his dear wife in Belgium, and let him know that I’m intending to arrange our first international convention, bringing high level professionals to Brazil.

When I came back to Brazil, that’s just what I did. Then in Italy, I achieved another master’s degree (Padova), and made many friends around there. In two specific conventions, we happened to run out of vacancies, which gave my career quite a boost. I went to Italy a couple of times, brought my MASTER’S baton regarding Andrology and finally achieved my grand goal: being an EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY’S (PADOVA) ASSOCIATED RESEARCHER with two of the greatest researchers in the world, Dr. Andrea Garolla and Dr. Carlo Foresta, my super friends.

After my return, I’ve got tremendously busy. I had to coordinate two international conventions, had both national and international classes and master’s degrees, and made a special tribute to my mentors in an overflowing assembly, received international invitations and built many friendships. I still had a kind of a feeling that makes me want to do more and more to increment my curriculum, of course, but finally my mindset had changed. I was ready!

In this scenario, in a Thursday afternoon, one of my mentors called me to attend a meeting. He had such a great experience and a profound knowledge about my desires regarding the future. With a soft tone, he said to me, “Sit down and listen. Pay attention, otherwise, you’re not taking my advice seriously, for you’re always in a hurry and chasing after something… Go and fly! You’re capable of achieving way more then we can offer to you.”

So I got out of there and never came back. After that, opportunities showed up, and my both friend and mentor, Dr. Edson Borges Jr. invited me to work in Campinas (FIVMED, Urohominis). After that, I got a job at Hospital Moriah, Hcor, Jundiaí, and at last, I had the honor to receive an invitation from my former University (PUC-Campinas) to work as an assistant teacher, taking on a new assignment. Classes, researches, publications, conventions – that’s how this wonderfully frenzied life I live today was formed. I still have plans for the future and national and international researches in progress. I made up my own group, teamed up with friends, and I’m still thinking that I’m going to need to live up to 120 years in order to accomplish all that I want.

It feels good when I look back and see the Ivone building, São Francisco Xavier high, Bandeirantes School, PUC-Campinas, Policlínico de Roma, Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad – Sevilha, Padova’s University, Universidade Livre da Bélgica and all the other places I lived and worked. I can say that without the friends I made along the way, I would never be who I am now. I am very thankful to all of my patients and to all of my friends!