Page 21 - Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens - March '25

Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens, Page 21
Heart Transplant Gets Physician Cyclist Back

On The Trails After Years Of Progressive Heart Failure

Jaime Rodriguez, M.D., a maternal-fetal medicine bypass surgery. He had suffered a massive heart attack on “I had suffered so much that I was welcoming the idea
specialist at a healthcare system in South Florida, has that ride, which severely damaged his heart. by then,” Dr. Rodriguez says of overcoming his fear of
dedicated his career to taking care of others. But when he Dr. Rodriguez, who was 50 at the time, had been dealing the transplant. “I knew I had no choice – it was this or I
was the one who needed help, his colleagues in medicine with coronary artery disease since he was 43 years old. “I had wouldn’t make it.”
were there for him. gone back to cycling and riding my bike at a competitive level A suitable donor heart become available 10 days after
In 2007 Dr. Rodriguez, a former competitive cyclist, was to improve my heart health,” he says. But his predisposition to he was admitted to the ICU. “It’s hard to describe how it
out on one of his regular early morning bike rides when he heart disease was strong – both his father and his grandfather felt to get that news,” Dr. Rodriguez says. “I realized how
collapsed on the road. He required cardiac resuscitation on had died from it, at 52 and 53 years old, respectively. lucky I was.”
the scene and was rushed to Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital Dr. Rodriguez’s health remained stable for several years Nicolas Brozzi, M.D., and Cedric Sheffield, M.D,
where his cardiologist, Howard Bush, M.D., performed after the biking incident. The damage to his heart, however, performed a complex cardiac reoperation to replace his
a coronary catheterization that revealed a blocking of the slowly progressed to heart failure and malignant arrhythmia, worn-out native heart with a healthy donor heart. Dr.
stents he had received six years earlier. An intra-aortic requiring the implantation of a cardioverter-defibrillator Rodriguez’s recovery was gradual, but steady, and he was
balloon pump (IABP) was implanted, and he was rushed to and advanced heart failure management under the care of discharged from the hospital within two weeks.
the operating room where he underwent quadruple coronary cardiologists at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital. “He was determined to get through this operation and
“My prognosis was that the damage would worsen with move on with life, back to his family and his work,” says
age,” he says. “I had a feeling I was going to end up needing Dr. Brozzi.
a transplant – it was always in the back of my mind. But I was One year after his transplant, Dr. Rodriguez was back
doing well, still able to ride a bike, work and live a happy life. to working full-time, walking, running and cycling. He
So, I thought, ‘Let’s not think about the transplant now.’” says exercising is easier now than before and he can do
By May of 2020, Dr. Rodriguez had been dealing with at least as much as, if not more, than anyone else his age.
worsening episodes of arrhythmia and had been hospitalized Dr. Rodriguez has become very fond of his care team
frequently over six months until one night, which he at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital and looks forward
described as a “nightmare,” when he had eight episodes of to seeing them at his follow-ups.
arrhythmia. He’d had enough. His wife called 911 and he “The cardiac transplant team provides very personalized
was taken to Weston Hospital. care,” he says. “They make you feel special. I am very
“I am very grateful to the organization and the transplant grateful to the organization and the transplant care doctors
care doctors – they have become my friends and partners in – they have become my friends and partners in this ride
this ride of a lifetime.” of a lifetime.”
Dr. Rodriguez’s heart muscle had deteriorated to the point The Transplant Center at Cleveland Clinic in Florida
where a transplant was the only solution. He was admitted builds upon the longstanding success of the world-renowned
One year after his heart transplant, Jaime Rodriguez, M.D., to the ICU, where he was intubated for a few days and then Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Patients receive the highest-level
(center) was back to working full-time, walking, running required an IABP support to stabilize his condition while he medical care from top experts in organ transplantation. Visit
and cycling. waited for a donor heart that would be compatible for him. ClevelandClinicFlorida.org/Transplant to learn more.

Book Review from page 20 sparrows (which alone covers 10 species), thrushes, warblers, 2021, a situation in which a young, inexperienced Cooper’s
woodpeckers and other songbirds. Hawk flying over Tan’s backyard had spotted three cage
so much as she not only watches the many species of birds Some visit her regularly throughout the year. Others obey feeders and done a fast dive intending to pluck a songbird
that visit her backyard, but often becomes a part of their their ancient instincts and migrate thousands of miles around from its perch as an easy meal, not realizing that the birds
lives—feeding them, sometimes holding them, protecting the globe as the seasons change, returning the same time each were safe inside the metal feeders. It crashed into one of the
them whenever possible from predators, trying to outsmart year to a warm welcome at Tan’s backyard. feeders, injured a wing and Amy Tan, after frantic efforts to
the agile and determined squirrels who want their portions We learn about them not only through her Chronicle’s free and release her, rushed the hawk to a wildlife center to
of the seeds meant for the birds—and each day learning fascinating and informative text but also from some of the try to have the bird healed.
something wonderfully new which she shares with us: intentionally rough drawings accompanied by handwritten “She received a total of three months of incredible care.
their individual personalities, her avian friends’ food likes notes that are equally interesting and which point out But she was still not flying symmetrically. A few days after
and dislikes, fears or willingness to be approached, mating unusual facts worth knowing that she has either sketched, that report, I received a voicemail message from the medical
habits, parenting skills, dominance traits, aggression or or less often photographed then sketched, while observing director, asking that I return her call. I knew by her soft,
shyness—and so much more. the birds’ actions. consoling tone that the news would not be good. I spared
Throughout the period covered in these pages Tan learned The range of emotions engendered by these experiences is her the difficulty of telling me and left a voicemail message,
to identify 62 different kinds of birds that visited her backyard exemplified by two examples that I will touch on very briefly saying I appreciated all that they had done. I knew that if
and lists them at the back of the book in such categories as: here. Most of the text has been omitted for lack of space and (the hawk) could not fly well enough to find food, she would
corvids, doves and pigeons, finches, nuthatches, raptors, replaced with ellipses (…). Here is the first, dated Sept. 26, slowly starve in the wild … I understood why it was more
humane to euthanize her, and I was grateful that they would
do it in the kindest way possible.
“After I left the message, I cried. I tried to draw her
CAMPBELL AND KARLIK, P.A. portrait. But I could not capture her spirit. I could not capture
the way she must have felt within I briefly held her in my arms
ATTORNEYS AT LAW and told her I was sorry.”
A month later, on Oct. 24, 2021, a bomb cyclone arrived
in the Bay Area. As Amy Tan notes—here again I am
quoting just brief excerpts from her wonderful description
Wills • Trusts • Estate Planning • Probate of the event:

Taxation • Real Estate • Corporations “It hurled serial storms and produced an atmospheric
river that dropped a thirty-minute deluge. We, the denizens
who had been saving shower water to wash bird poop
off the porch were happy to be waterlogged … But as
I watched the large limbs or our oak trees swaying, I
imagined the birds in those trees being whipsawed and
flung into the storm. Where do they go to stay dry when
the rain is blasting sideways?
“As if in answer, two pygmy nuthatches flew into the
covered porch off my office, shook themselves off, and sat
on top of a cage feeder a couple of inches apart. Most
people would agree that the pygmy nuthatch is one of the
cutest birds on earth. They look and sound like squeaky
toys. I assumed they would eat a few suet balls for fortitude
and head for a heavily leafed hiding spot. But after five
minutes, they were still there …
“They did not go into the feeders to eat. They simply
watched the rain from their spectator seats. The smaller
nuthatch scooted closer to the bigger one. The bigger one
Diane L. KarLiK then allopreened the smaller one, poking and picking at its
feathers. I assumed they were adults, a mated pair, since
the season for fledglings was long over. For thirty minutes
the two nuthatches sat close together like lovers on a porch
Tel: (561) 625-5220 swing, watching the rain as I watched them.”
3450 Northlake Boulevard Suite 210 Fax: (561) 625-5201• Mobile: (561) 797-5004 These offer just a bare hint of the information and
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33403 EMail: dlkarlik@aol.com experiences awaiting you in the almost 300 pages of this book,
so deserving of its recent honors. Experience it for yourself.