Speaker 1: Laura, an everyday woman we face constantly on the streets. It can be your husband's wife, it can be your son's girlfriend, it can be your colleague at work, an everyday woman with everyday problems. And Laura one day goes to a gynecologist because she experiences pain in her lower abdomen. The gynecologist tells her that she's got fibroids in her uterus, benign tissues of the uterus womb, non-cancerous. But it tells her also that her window of fertility will close in about six months. She only has six months time to have a child in her life, otherwise she will never have the chance. Of course you can cut out the fibroid by surgery, or you can cut out the whole organ. I mean, hysterectomy is totally common for a treatment for fibroids with a lot of women. Then the phone rings and the doctor accepts a call from a friend with whom he happily arranges a golf tournament. Laura went to the practice as a woman and returns of the practice as a patient, full of fear and uncertainty and with the fertility clock counting backwards. When was the last time you were a patient? When was the last time you or your friend or your child were so seriously ill that you had to go to the hospital? How did you feel when you entered the hospital door? What was it like? With all this fear and uncertainty, Laura is not alone. Every third woman has fibroids, non-cancerous tissues. Every third woman. It can be you, it can be you, it can be you. And you know what? It's not even a disease. It's only a disease when it causes symptoms. Symptoms like heavy bleeding, frequent urinating or fatigue. And only 20% of these women, but we are millions, millions of women who have fibroids. 20% of these women need treatment. You know what? I used to be a patient once. I'm one of these third women. And you know what? I didn't like it. In fact, I hated it. I completely hated it. And it wasn't about helplessness I hated. It was not the feeling of losing control. Because I work in social media where it's all about losing control. But what I found out was, first of all, by researching the web, I found out that there are two additional non-surgical treatments by a group of doctors called interventional radiologists. My gynecologist didn't tell me. Then I found numbers of forum posts of anonymous women blaming the doctor for being treated wrongly. You know, I cannot reduce medical errors, but I can increase informed decisions. And I made my choice, together with my physician. I have made my choice and I've undergone treatment. And I won't tell you what it was because I don't want to influence you. But still something kept tackling me, made me angry. And Louis knows about what anger means. It made me so angry. And anger is an emotion that can be used really, really creatively when used wisely. Anger is really a strong power. So I decided to become a social entrepreneur and used my anger to craft a solution. And build a solution. But before I was a social entrepreneur, I had to face something. I had to dig down deep into my past to understand what makes me so angry. And you know what? I was facing my own resistance. And this resistance was so strong. I'm pretty sure you know it. When you feel like something's blocking you or you're totally denying something, then you're very close at your very own resistance. And for me, personally, it was fear. Fear of the uncertainty. You know, health outcome is uncertain. The future is uncertain. It's unpredictable. And resistance is also connected to discomfort. Our culture fools us, especially men, that we have to be independent and totally on our own and solve our problems by our own. You might feel discomfort and avoid going to a doctor. On the other hand, the doctor might resist to cooperate with a different doctor. For example, gynecologists are trained surgeons. They operate with knives. On the other hand, interventional radiologists perform surgery without a knife. So they resist maybe because they feel they are competitors and might lose their patient. So there is still something on both sides. And you know, treatment and decision-making and diagnosis and treatment are so technical terms. Today, we go to a doctor. A doctor prescribes meds. We swallow a pill and get our body fixed. Doctors have become body engineers. What we miss out completely is the human factor in the system. That means we miss completely emotional and social well-being. So what we really need to do is actually change the relationship on both sides. It's not only about empowering patients. It's also doctors that need to open up. And you know what? When you go to a doctor consultation, forget about playing doctor-patient roles. It's such a precious time when you have this consultation, this five minutes, and you have to be there with all your senses. And to overcome resistance, which is the magic point, to overcome resistance means you're ready to take action. And resistance can be overcome when you name it, when you give it a form. For me, it was fear. For you, it's maybe something else. But once you overcome it, you come into motion, you come into dialogue, into commitment, and that's a really cool doctor-patient relationship. It could be like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson with a little twist that Dr. Watson is now the patient because with all the technology tools, we are able to monitor our symptoms. This is really helpful for the doctor to get a better diagnosis. You know, this is actually the point where we say the beauty lies in what we do, not who we are. So I have crafted a solution. I've built a platform for women suffering from uterine fibroids. My solution gives them neutral information. That means they are empowered with knowledge, and it's called uterosomiomatosis.net. What? Come on, this is such a strange word. You get to know when you come out of the doctor consultation, and you're like, what was it? It's Latin description for fibroids, and you use your smartphone and use Google, and then you find us, and we are there for you. And we offer knowledge, and we offer a creative, not a creative, but a collaborative network because my part is to talk to health insurers, to talk to politicians, to talk to physicians' associations, to talk to gynecologists, to talk to interventional radiologists because when we all collaborate, then great health outcome is possible. We all need a little bit of change. And we also have editors who record patient stories. And you know what? Lara emailed us. Lara has found a new doctor in our cooperative network, in our network where radiologists cooperate with gynecologists. Lara has undergone treatment. She has faced her own resistance and taken action. And you know what? Lara's pregnant, and she's full of joy. And maybe the next time, when you also feel that a doctor relationship needs change, you might go to your doctor and say, Hello, doctor. Do you know the book about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson? Thank you.