♪♪ -I was 13.

I started getting incredibly dizzy.

-Everything would just hurt.

I wouldn't be able to walk.

-I've lost about half my body weight since it started.

-It just feels like someone is taking a blow torch and burning your insides.

♪♪ -I found it incredibly hard to find someone, anyone, to listen to me and take me seriously and believe that what I was saying about my own body was true.

-If you look at the amount of women that it affects, it's a tragedy.

It really is.

People's lives are being ruined.

♪♪ -The scariest thing is that no one even knows this is going on.

♪♪ ♪♪ -You okay?

You want me to keep filming?

-Yeah.

[ Speaks indistinctly ] -Almost there.

♪♪ ♪♪ -I don't exactly trust her.

Don't exactly trust her telling me that everything's fine.

-Yeah.

Seems to be one of the main things of this, right?

You come in and they're like, "Oh, this mystery disease.

We don't know what to do about it, and you're not dying, or you don't look like you're dying, so bye."

-"Follow up with your OB-GYN."

That's not anything we haven't heard before.

-Yep.

-I dunno.

For years now, I've been sent to every specialist that makes sense based on my symptoms.

OB-GYNs, pulmonologists, cardiologists.

They don't see a problem based on their specialty.

No one's looking at the big picture.

And so now what am I supposed to do to get better?

The biggest struggle is it basically strips me of all of my coping mechanisms.

When I'm stressed, I exercise.

When I have extra energy, I exercise.

When I'm tired, I exercise.

I don't really have a place to kind of escape to.

There's nowhere for me to do that when I can't exercise.

-The scariest thing is that Jenneh's also a nurse.

She's one of the most capable people that I know.

And certainly when it comes to any kind of medical thing, she should know.

♪♪ -I thought that maybe I'm dying or I have some kind of rare disease.

But then I go online and find that millions of women are going through exactly what I'm going through.

♪♪ The first time that I was told it could be endometriosis, I'd never even heard of it.

And this was six years into me being a nurse in really what I like to regard is really highly specialized and nationally acclaimed medical centers.

And to me to just -- For the first time be hearing about a disease that's so common not in school, not through work.

This was the first time I had ever heard of it, and that's kind of crazy.

It's crazy to me.

It's really crazy to me.

-1 out of every 10 women, okay?

170 million women suffer from it.

-For those of you who don't know what endometriosis is, I'm gonna read the definition straight from the Internet.

"Endometriosis is the abnormal growth of cells similar to those that form inside of the uterus but in a location outside of the uterus."

-It's literally internal bleeding.

And it causes so much pain.

At least for me.

-Some women have stage four endometriosis and have no pain, and they don't find out that they have it until they can't get pregnant.

-How can there be so much pain and no one seems to know about it?

Why doesn't my doctor know?

-It seems surreal to me that you get better information from a Facebook group than you do actual doctors.

I mean, absolutely bonkers.

I mean, it doesn't even seem real.

I can't even believe I'm saying that.

♪♪ ♪♪ -It took me almost 10 doctors to find someone that actually believed my pain.

-Dozens of doctors.

I've seen so many.

-I probably saw more than 35 physicians.

-I've had blood tests, I've had X-rays, I've had CT scans.

-Sugar level tests, ultrasounds, colonoscopies, upper endoscopies.

-I don't even know some of the names of the tests that I've had because there's been so many.

-So many ultrasounds.

All were negative.

-I even had a laparoscopy, which originally they say didn't show anything when in fact I had stage-four endometriosis.

-If something doesn't make sense, it's because there's ignorance and misunderstanding.

And something doesn't make sense because there's ignorance and misunderstanding among the people taking care of women with endometriosis.

The doctors believe the wrong things.

-I'll get internal medicine doctors who don't know what to look for, or I'll get gastroenterologists who say, "Oh, endometriosis on the bowel.

Oh, it can't be that.

That never happens."

Meanwhile, I've done over 400 bowel resections for endo on the bowel.

So there's a huge misconception that's probably born out early in their training that persists.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Hi, babe.

-Hello.

-So he is my chauffeur, my chauffeur to everything 'cause I can't drive much anymore.

♪♪ Hi.

Today's a rough day.

Things seem to be getting worse and worse by the day.

Um...

But what can you do?

Right?

♪♪ -She's definitely a different person.

Like, when we first met, she loved to do so much stuff.

♪♪ And as years went on, then it began to get worse.

Now the pain is just, like, all the time.

♪♪ -In that area, but a little -- yeah, like a little lower hole.

That one, like just -- -That I just connected.

-Holy crap.

Holy crap.

That one hurt.

Ooh.

♪♪ -She takes care of children with autism, and the disease basically has made it impossible for her to work.

-I'm the owner-operator of Nurturing Families, and I offer infant and pediatric massage classes.

My business was my baby, right?

I built it from nothing and I loved what I did.

Even though I know that it's not, it feels like giving up a little bit.

♪♪ ♪♪ -It would've made a huge difference for Laura to be able to be diagnosed at 13, but she wasn't.

I find that hard to believe in this world that a woman of 30 is just being diagnosed.

♪♪ -Let's talk about what's taught about endometriosis.

Virtually nothing.

It's certainly not required to be in the medical education component.

And then if we look in the books, what are we teaching?

Well, let's see.

Um, you know that it's a disease of normal endometrium in abnormal places and that it's cured by hysterectomy, menopause, pregnancy.

All of these things are based on an outdated theory that if you stop periods, the disease goes away.

But pregnancy is not a cure for endometriosis.

Hysterectomy is not a cure for endometriosis.

Over 100,000 hysterectomies are performed every year for the disease, and the most outrageous thing is the most are unnecessary.

This goes back 100 years.

-And remember, menstruation is only a part of growing up.

As you grow, your body changes from that of a young girl to that of a woman.

Yes, Anne?

-Ms. Jensen, what about dancing?

Can you, when you're menstruating?

-Yes, you can, with moderation, but it's not a very good idea to skate or ride horseback or play fast games like volleyball and basketball, or do strenuous dancing like square dancing.

-Part of the problem is when you talk about endometriosis, they say, "Well, what is that?"

When they say, "Well, you know, it's this presence of this disease that's characterized by these --" "Oh, endometrial, oh my God.

No.

Period?

No."

♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ The future is female ♪ ♪ The future is female ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -The reason why I think periods are still so taboo today is that we want women to be sexual objects for the consumption of somebody else.

And a period doesn't go hand in hand with that.

-♪ The future is female ♪ -Stigma is one of the most effective forms of oppression.

Why?

Because it denies us the vocabulary to talk comfortably and confidently about our own bodies.

That is what's happened when it comes to women's health, when it comes to endometriosis, when it comes to us feeling like we deserve to have access to information about our own bodies.

But it's constantly shrouded in mystery.

It's extremely frustrating.

-These are all -- These are all sort of what we call functional disorders.

Everything you mentioned, everything you mentioned are things that actually aren't discernibly pathological.

They're what we call garbage bag diagnoses.

When you can't think of anything else, you go, "Oh, it's that."

♪♪ ♪♪ -The difference in how I was treated by my doctors when I would have my boyfriend with me at my appointments was really a night and day to me.

When he would be there, it was like they listened in a different way.

Sometimes when we would go to the ER, I would just let him talk for me.

If 1 in 10 men had this disease, we wouldn't be nowhere near where we are right now with women.

Like seriously, if there was a disease for men that the only treatment, which isn't even a real treatment, and they may very well still have problems after it, was to chop their balls off, honestly, if that were the case -- -I think we'd figure it out, right?

-More research dollars, et cetera, et cetera.

-For sure.

For sure, for sure.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Research funding for endometriosis is woefully inadequate.

Diabetes, for instance, gets more than $1 billion in healthcare dollars while a disease like endometriosis, which afflicts the same percentage of women in the US, gets $7 million, which shows that the disease is a largely ignored aspect in women's healthcare.

This is insane because up to 50% of infertility is due to endometriosis.

And much of this could be avoided if endometriosis was diagnosed earlier.

♪♪ ♪♪ -I have this itch all the time to wanna go to my studio and draw because it is something that is therapeutic for me.

When I don't do it, I feel there's like -- there's just something, like, pent up and I don't feel comfortable.

Like, physically I feel uncomfortable 'cause I have these images in my head that just get stuck.

A lot of my work is about femininity or even the lack of it.

Going through all those health issues, you lose that side of yourself where you feel like a woman.

♪♪ -Eventually, I mustered up enough courage to ask if she wanted to meet up.

And she said "Edgardo?"

And I kind of like leaned in, and the first thought in my mind was, "Oh, this is so not fair, because she looks so much prettier in person than she did in the pictures."

I was like, "Oh, man, she's so pretty.

I know she's not gonna like me.

This is not gonna go anywhere.

Gosh.

Okay."

"Hi.

Hi.

I'm Edgardo.

How are you doing?"

♪♪ -I wanna have a family with him.

I really, really wanna have a family with him, but I don't know, with endometriosis, not knowing whether or not that's possible, is he gonna be disappointed?

Are we gonna keep trying until it's just, you know, pointless?

I don't know.

Maybe it'll affect our relationship.

There's underlying sadness throughout most of my work, and that is that lack of motherhood or, you know, not being able to have children.

Um... Yeah, there's a weight.

♪♪ -Here's Emily dancing.

Emily likes to dance.

She's a good little dancer too.

There we go, Emily.

-Hi.

-Emily's 16.

-Whoo!

-Has her permit, driving around New Hampshire.

Here she goes on the open road.

How's it feel, Em?

-Feels awesome.

-Love you, baby.

-It's freedom.

-My little girl is all grown up.

♪♪ -[ Breathing sharply ] Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

I feel like a knife's going through my stomach.

I am having a full-on panic attack right now and I'm driving and I'm at a stoplight right now, but I've been driving for 45 minutes and it's -- it's incredible, like, how hard.

♪♪ ♪♪ I fake a lot of my life.

[ Speaks indistinctly ] When I get pain in class, I just try to slap on a smile, but honestly, it's so forced that I usually just go into myself and I just -- I get really quiet.

I don't make eye contact with anyone.

And I'm sure people notice.

-So I think we're gonna go ahead and start English class.

The way that typically works is people stop talking to each other.

-I just wanna be normal.

-We had the opportunity to see the best doctors in the world.

-Um, Emily up the top.

-We're seeing the chief of these departments.

We're not seeing some resident.

Okay, we're doing everything these doctors are telling us.

So she's tried birth control pills, different pain killers, nothing's working, and she's not getting better.

So what do we do?

There's always that search for the solution.

-I think I've been on about 30 different types of oral contraceptives.

-The combined pill, the progesterone-only pill, you know, a low-estrogen formulation of a pill.

-The idea was if they stopped my period or it came less frequently, then I wouldn't have pain.

-Before I was ever offered anything to try to mitigate the pain, I was offered things like Ativan, so like sedatives or antidepressants.

-I've been prescribed painkillers, pretty heavy-duty ones that made me feel pretty suicidal.

-As a teenager, I didn't fully understand what they were doing to my body.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Bottoms up.

♪♪ I've been on meds since I was 12, like heavy-duty hormone things, right?

So my body's never had a break.

It's just been one big chemical overload.

-Shh, shh, shh, shh.

-[ Crying ] -Hey, this is Brad.

It's Saturday the 21st.

My wife just was getting ready to go out.

She took some medicine, and she's twitching, going into spasms.

Her dad's here comforting her.

♪♪ -We're using the same medicines that have been around about 30 years.

They don't make endometriosis go away.

They don't melt endometriosis.

And at best, perhaps the symptoms may be slightly better, but the side effects are, uh, probably worse than the benefit the women are receiving from the medicine.

-My teeth were starting to loosen.

I would have, um -- I could just feel 'em kind of cracking, like moving.

-I run my fingers through my hair, I am losing 10 to 20 strands.

Eating a ton, hot flashes all the time.

I think I'm having one right now.

-A really foggy brain, joint pain, fatigue, depression.

-It's like PMS on steroids and crack and cocaine and every possible stimulant.

-Ugh, I felt like I got hit by a bus.

The Lupron bus.

-And I just have to remember that this is -- this is a process, and every single part of it is meaningful.

And, um... that it might take a while before, um, before I get all -- all of -- all of who I was back.

So... ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -It's like a very light plus sign.

-Do you think?

The horizontal line's not showing up.

-That's definitely a horizontal line.

I think this is a good sign to see a doctor.

How do you feel?

-That's good.

-Yeah, that's very good.

-I love you.

-I love you.

-Whatever happens, I love you very much.

Okay?

-I think that's a good idea.

-You think that's a good idea?

-Yeah.

You should always love me no matter what happens.

-Looks good.

How do you feel, Mommy?

-Happy.

Being told in your 20s that you're never gonna get pregnant or ever have a family, which, you know, that's pretty devastating.

So getting pregnant was a surprise.

So we got a heartbeat.

So happy.

Oh, my gosh.

We have a baby.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -I feel nervous, I'm not gonna lie.

This is a definitive point on what we do next and what we do next is not a good option.

They all have side effects, so we're just feeling like she's okay.

She's not great on what she's doing now, but she's okay.

And if we switch it up, she might not be okay.

And that's the scary thing.

Just watching her.

Are you sure that's right?

90 pounds.

-94.

-94 pounds.

Seriously?

-Mm-hmm.

-So she's dropped almost 10 pounds in the last -- -93.72.

-Oh, my gosh.

That is really low.

-Yeah.

-Ready, Emily?

-Okay.

-Her earrings?

-Oh yeah, earrings.

-Yeah, earrings are okay.

-Okay.

All right.

Love you.

[ Sighs ] It is like a weird feeling to be here.

I have to say.

Like, I think I get anxiety.

Ugh.

It's like you get going on a great trajectory, you know?

It's like -- Just goes great for a while and then, uh, when you have to mix it up, it gets scary.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -If medications don't work, the next step is usually to have surgery.

-Perfect.

Let's have you fill this paperwork.

Thanks.

-Thank you.

So I went to my OB-GYN, he did what's called an ablation surgery where he burned the endometriosis out.

-How are you doing today?

-Good.

Doing better.

-This way.

Let's see.

Uh, so this is my first post-op picture.

I just wanted to get an idea of what my bandages looked like.

The nurse in me wanted to see, to assess my wounds.

I think my surgery lasted about 40 minutes.

And my doctor actually told me that when I woke up from anesthesia, he told me everything looked good.

We didn't see anything.

And then four days after my ablation, I got my first period, and it was just excruciating.

And I just remember thinking "Whatever he did didn't work 'cause this feels exactly the same as it did before."

And that was kind of, I think, the first point when I realized this is going to be more difficult of a thing to take care of than I anticipated it was going to be.

It doesn't get as much attention because it doesn't kill you.

But what's not taken into account is just the devastation that it does still cause in women's lives.

Careers that have to be given up on and, you know, futures that completely have to be rewritten because of the disease.

♪♪ -"Ideally, all endometriosis lesions should be excised.

Adequate surgical excision of endometrial implants provides the best symptomatic relief and long-term results.

Unfortunately, most gynecologists are not trained in advanced endometriosis cases.

So they're doing ablation."

The burning.

-I'm not gonna lie to you.

Like, it freaks me out that I have to get another surgery.

Like, I already have scars from my other two, like, and it was a horrible recovery.

-I know.

-Surgery is really scary.

-Only a small handful of physicians are able to perform excision of endometriosis.

It takes a lot of training.

It's actually very difficult to excise endometriosis because often you're on the bowel, on the bladder, on the ureters.

♪♪ It's not so easy as just finding an excision surgeon and having the surgery.

Insurance doesn't properly reimburse for excision because there's no separate code for it.

Doctors are reimbursed the same, even though ablation typically takes less than an hour and excision can take many hours.

-Well, unfortunately right now it's not a fair system.

It's not a fair system for the patients and it's not a fair system for the surgeon.

The average doc on the street is under a lot of pressure.

We have to see more and more and more patients because reimbursement is less and less and less.

You have a whole staff who are depending on you to pay their salaries and you have to pay the light bill.

And there are a lot of economic pressures in addition to do-the-right-thing pressures.

-Everything in America is usually out of network.

So it can become very expensive.

-I'm probably never gonna own a house.

I have a lot of medical debts still, and it ruined my credit before I really even was old enough to have, like, established any credit.

-I've had three surgeries paid out of pocket plus medicines, treatments, everything that's kind of not worked for me.

-If I had to add up how much I've spent on everything, it's been over $40,000.

-$83,000.

-$100,000.

-About $300,000 over 30-some-odd years.

♪♪ -Hey.

-Hey.

You ready?

-Yeah.

I'm just looking at pictures of your brother eating chicken and waffles.

Alright.

-So "Anthem EO services provides utilization management for Anthem Blue Cross.

We've finished reviewing your grievance for an out-of-network referral request.

Denied."

-Does it say anything else?

-No, just the contact for the doctors that they want me to see.

-One of the people is someone who already -- -Look, it even says, look, "These list of providers will perform endometrial ablation surgery."

-But you called and they don't, right?

-No, we petitioned for excision.

-Oh, oh, oh.

Right, right, right, right, right.

It's not even the right surgery.

-No.

-Wow.

There's another thing for grievances and appeals again.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I can't -- I'm not doing -- I cannot do this right now.

Yeah.

-Alright.

It's alright.

-The whole system is broken.

Women are caught up in this endless cycle of drugs and ineffective surgeries.

And until we have better treatments and better research from unbiased sources that don't have a profit motive, this is never going to stop.

The reality is that all research is funded by somebody, and follow the almighty dollar, and you will find paws in all of medical research.

I mean, people can't afford to do research on their own without some sort of funding.

-What we need is clean money coming from government without any strings attached, without big pharma involved in deciding what the final end product of the research is.

-Hi, Orrin.

It's Mary Alice.

Hi.

-I've passed more healthcare bills than anybody in Congress.

I hardly ever heard of this until my granddaughter explained it to me.

We need to make people aware.

I mean, you know, this is a very widespread problem for an awful lot of women.

We've gotta do something about this, and I'm all for it.

You gotta guide me and help me.

That's all.

-It's important to kind of rally around more prominent members of Congress to recognize that this is a big deal.

-We Have some excellent people on the Democrat side.

I think Elizabeth Warren is a good one.

She's a fire brand.

She irritates most Republicans, but she does not irritate me.

So I'd be very happy to work with her and get her.

I can get that done.

-We're counting on you, Orrin.

-You know how to put the pressure on, Mary Alice.

I'll tell you what.

-I just got to the gate, and I think we're gonna really make a difference with this whole trip and just helping to get funding and everything.

At least that's the hope.

So, fingers crossed.

♪♪ ♪♪ -So let's go through this really quick 'cause I wanna make sure I have this right.

I'll do introductions.

You're gonna share your story, three to four minutes.

You totally nailed that.

Good job.

-I've just gotta be more concise.

-All right, so reference fact sheet, impact on society.

$119 billion lost wages and medical costs.

So I should move that up with awareness.

Okay, we're here.

And insurance.

It's always a fear in the back of my mind.

Are we gonna be able to get her treatment?

What's next?

I don't know what's next.

There is no next.

This is the end for her.

I mean, that's what's motivating me to raise all this money for treatment.

-I'm nervous.

♪♪ -Hi.

-Hello.

-It's good to see you.

Who've we got here?

How are you?

Good to see you.

-Hi.

-Hi.

How are you?

I'm so happy to see you.

-How are you?

Good to see you.

-Thank you so much.

-Well, it's good to see you.

I'm not membered.

-You are, you are.

This is how we get real change, right?

I wanna ask a couple of questions just 'cause I wanna make sure we get to these though.

How long does it take to diagnose a person, a woman with endometriosis on average?

You know, a lot of things -- -10 years.

-How long?

-10 years.

-10 years.

-They don't know it is, but I've seen her where she's doubled up and really can't stand, you know?

The pain is so intense and so terrible.

-Emily can speak to this.

It kills your quality of life.

-That's basically why I just really wanna talk to all of you about just finding funding and finding different ways that we can treat this disease.

-The Senate appropriations bill for this year listed almost $300 million for research money.

If we could get even a couple million dollars from that, that could have some big impact for endo.

-Yeah.

Better diagnosis.

Better treatment.

-Yes.

-Good.

-I feel like we need to clap or something.

♪♪ -Go slow.

You gonna hold the rail there?

-Mm-hmm.

♪♪ ♪♪ -You want to have a snooze, you go ahead.

I'm good.

Awake, too.

Keeping me awake.

-You know me.

Once we get on the highway.

-Yeah.

Another one?

-Well, there wasn't really a thought process.

It was "My kid is sick, I gotta do what I can."

So I went down to the bank and I took out a second mortgage.

This is our best chance.

We have to hope that this is gonna work this time.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Is that all right?

-They're not 100% sure yet if they'll have to take my uterus.

I'm 28.

All I want to do is be healthy.

That's my number-one priority.

Don't cry.

You'll make me cry.

-She's gonna do fine, Dad.

-Take care of her.

♪♪ -Laura had researched a doctor and the endo clinic and her confidence is way up there that this is gonna be her best hope.

I'm fairly confident that all is gonna be well as long as she's not too damaged inside from all her previous surgeries.

He says her uterus looks really good and he says he can't see any reason why she can't conceive.

So that's a bonus for them.

A big bonus.

-It's fine.

Don't be nervous.

I should be the one that's nervous.

-I know, you're such a rock.

-Hey.

-Hi, Em.

-I just want them to put me under already.

-What we'll do is I'll bring you inside.

We're gonna put the camera in.

And then based on where I see the endometriosis and how I need to tackle it and approach it, we'll determine where the incisions go.

We're gonna cut out what we can do safely.

We're gonna preserve her fertility.

-Good.

-Okay.

-Okay?

-All right.

-All right, let me check on the room and then we'll go from there.

-We just got a call asking if we could get to the hospital earlier.

So we got ready in about five seconds and we are rushing on our way to Northside Hospital, and I just got really excited for today.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Okay.

Any questions regarding procedure?

Okay.

Allergies?

Any drug allergies?

-No drug allergies.

-Any problems with latex?

-No.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -We're excising some on the wall here.

-Great.

Let me know if you need anything from the sys cord over here.

-Yellow?

Okay, great.

Left uterosacral ligament, rule out endometriosis.

♪♪ You can see all this speckling under in here.

Do you see the scarring right there?

Yeah, it's very close.

♪♪ -Got some more endo here.

Some more endo there.

More there.

Here is the right uterosacral ligament.

Densely adhered to the sigmoid here.

So we have to separate the two of them.

So this is part of what's restricting the movement of the bowel.

♪♪ -She did great.

So when I put the camera in, do you see how this whole area here is pulling to the left side?

-Yeah.

-Do you see how we don't have that on the right side, but we see it on the left side?

So this area here was scarred.

Do you see as I cut it out, I mean, the little pieces that I cut out, it opened up this whole area.

-Oh, well, I'm relieved that she's fine.

You know, I was terrified before.

I know that she's gonna heal up and she's gonna be in very good shape compared to what she was before.

He's pretty sure he got most of the endo out.

There is a little bit of concern.

Her liver was stuck to her diaphragm, but he got everything out that he could see.

Unfortunately, they had to take her uterus.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -We lost the baby.

The fetus had stopped growing and we had to, um, abort the baby.

And, um, it was really, really painful because I didn't think I could ever get pregnant.

So at 39 and getting pregnant for the first time was like a miracle for me.

Um... And um, it was tough.

So, you know, everybody was saying at least I know I can get pregnant.

And so that was good.

We're still gonna try.

But we'll see.

Yeah.

♪♪ ♪♪ -If I could go anywhere, I would go to outer space.

I've been saying that lately.

I wouldn't mind if they freeze my body and send me up for a mission and I'll wake up in 500 years.

I can imagine just the peace to be just amongst the stars and to be able to look down onto the Earth and see Canada and see Saskatchewan and see everywhere I've ever wanted to go.

♪♪ ♪♪ -What are you getting?

-Kraut and fries and rice.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then do like just a roll.

-Overall, I feel really good.

I'm not on pain medication anymore.

My appetite's coming back.

I'm gaining weight again.

I'm not in any pain.

I'm not in any pain.

I'm not in any pain.

I don't know how many times I can say that before I still believe it's real.

-I've been doing really, really great recently, which is really exciting.

I'm almost completely pain-free right now.

Like, I'm still struggling a little bit, but overall in the past six years, this is the best I've ever felt.

So super stoked.

I haven't had to leave one class due to pain yet, and that hasn't happened in like six years.

So I'm just doing really, really well.

Like, knock on wood, and yeah.

Oop.

-This is beautiful out here tonight.

-Yep.

I was finally able to start enjoying life again, which was pretty amazing.

That was the right idea.

Just a little too hard.

I was able to take in some things I haven't been able to for years.

Nice shot.

So I'm really lucky.

-[ Laughs ] -I think I might have to just stop after this.

This is the best round of golf I've played in years.

Because of the extent of the damage and how long my body was in that sick state, I got permanent nerve damage.

Whoa.

-Take your time.

-Oh, I know.

I'm just trying to not pay attention to it.

♪♪ ♪♪ And I knew, I knew going into the surgery that there was a chance that this was gonna be the case, but you still hope, you hope for a miracle.

So I just need to change my definition of miracles, I guess.

-It's so obvious to me why my doctors treated me the way that they did, because according to standards, they did all the right things.

They gave me all the right medications, they said all the right words, based on what it is they're being told they should do.

I think if education was better for them, it wouldn't take 10 years for a woman to get an accurate diagnosis.

So listen to this.

Ready?

"May I ask you where you had your surgery and how it has helped?

I've been suffering for so long and will travel anywhere, literally, to get some sort of relief.

I'm thinking of a hysterectomy."

I'm gonna message her.

♪♪ -If we don't finally say we're not gonna live like this anymore, we're not gonna accept this anymore, I think we've seen that no one's going to do it for us.

So it's up to us.

It's up to us to make the change, finally.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Endometriosis.

-It's a disease so important that it calls for all of us to join forces to work to solve it.

-The stakes are too high for the girls and women in our country and around the world.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪