Endo Year Reflections: #5 Curiosity Meets Care: Where Simple Questions Unlock Better Endometriosis Living

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Start with a question that matters: What single idea would make your care feel lighter, clearer, and more doable this week? That’s the heart of our year-end reflection, where we revisit the formats that changed how we learn together—Quick Connect and Fast Charge—and the experts who made complex topics feel human. We swapped long lectures for focused Q&As, brought your toughest questions to clinicians and researchers, and kept the tone honest, hopeful, and grounded in real life.

We dig into surgical realities with excision: what improvement can look like, why outcomes vary, and how to plan recovery with informed hope instead of guarantees. We move to nutrition with practical, compassionate steps—eating enough, prioritizing protein, and using colorful produce in ways your gut can handle—without guilt or rigid rules. Then we zoom out to the science with a clear look at liquid biopsy: how sampling blood or uterine bleeding might bring less invasive insight, and why any new tool must prove it truly improves care for specific patients.

This conversation grew from your curiosity. Your questions shaped the episodes, your lived experience sharpened the focus, and your hunger for clarity kept us grounded in what actually helps. The big takeaway is simple but strong: meaningful progress can be small, consistent, and deeply personal. Hold one idea, let it settle, and give yourself room to learn, unlearn, rest, and repeat.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who needs a lift, and leave a review telling us the one idea you’re taking with you. Your questions power the next season—send them our way so we can keep building smart, kind, and usable conversations together.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
With the Indo Year coming up, it's a perfect time

(00:02):
to reflect on all the lessons,growth, and amazing guests we've
had on Indobattery.
But instead of one big recap,I'm breaking it into quick,
bite-sized reflections multipletimes a week.
Let's revisit what inspired us,learn what we missed, and
recharge together in our EndoYear Reflection series.
Join me each episode as we lookback.

(00:27):
Welcome to Indobattery, where Ishare my journey with
endometriosis and chronicillness while learning and
growing along the way.
This podcast is not a substitutefor medical advice, but a
supportive space to providecommunity and valuable
information so you never have toface this journey alone.
We embrace a range ofperspectives that may not always
align with our own, believingthat open dialogue helps us grow

(00:48):
and gain new tools.
Join me as I share stories ofstrength, resilience, and hope.
From personal experiences toexpert insights.
I'm your host, Alana, and thisis Indobattery, charging our
lives when Indometriosis drainsus.
Welcome back to Indobattery IndoYear Reflections.

(01:09):
This year also brought somethingnew to the table, something I
honestly didn't plan oncreating.
The Indobattery Quick Connectseries.
If I'm being totally honest,this series was born out of
listening.
Last year, so many of you lovedthe Endo Year Reflection series,
but what I kept hearing was, Iwish I had something like this
all year long.

(01:30):
Shorter, more digestible, stillmeaningful, and that's how Quick
Connect came to life.
I didn't know how much I wouldlove these episodes, but I
really do.
Life is busy.
Sometimes I don't have thecapacity for a full long
episode.
And sometimes what we reallyneed is one clear answer, one

(01:50):
focused topic, one small,powerful takeaway.
What made Quick Connect specialis that it wasn't just me
talking, it was you asking.
These episodes give space foryour questions to be answered by
experts and people who trulyknow this space.
And as we all know, if oneperson is asking a question,

(02:11):
there are usually a dozen, ifnot hundreds, of others
wondering the same thing.
The series kicked off with Dr.
Laura Liu answering questionsabout how to find an excision
specialist and what patientsshould realistically expect from
excision surgery.

SPEAKER_02 (02:27):
There's some patients, and I'd say this to my
all my patients, you know, Ihave no idea how much your pain
will improve after surgery.
It can be 30% improvement, itcan be 50% improvement, it can
be 100% improvement.
I don't have a crystal ball.
I can't predict that.
My hope is that it's 100%improvement.
As you mentioned before, a lotof times the surgery does help,

(02:50):
but it can't get rid of all ofthe pain because the body's been
traumatized for years anddecades, and just a four-hour
surgery can't undo all of that.
So I do think that it can behighly effective in some
patients for pain relief.
I think it can be if, and I tellmy patients, if your symptoms
are coming from endometriosis,by removing the endometriosis,

(03:14):
you can expect improvement inthe symptoms, but I don't know
if you can get resolution, likea complete resolution.

SPEAKER_03 (03:21):
From there, I was able to ask thoughtful,
community-driven questions topeople like Dr.
Mings, Dr.
Jeff Errington, and Sarah Ray, anutritionalist who focuses on
endometriosis infertility.
Sarah is one of those people whotakes complicated information
and makes it practical anddoable.

SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
Taking small steps.
So I would kind of take a stepback and look at the areas where
you're finding challenges.
So if it's most of the time Isee people are not eating enough
and not getting enough nutrientsin, and then maybe they feel
really guilty because they'rehaving cravings or going for
kind of quick processed foodslater in the day, or they feel

(03:58):
like they just shouldn't eat.
Um, and then they feel reallytired and crummy.
So step one, I would say makesure you're eating enough.
Most women need around 2,000calories a day, especially if
they're active.
So that what we've been told asteenagers and growing up that
you need only 1,200 to 1,500calories a day, most people are
not going to feel well at that.

(04:19):
So make sure you're eatingenough.
Make sure you're getting enoughprotein.
So once we kind of get that foodfrequency up, making sure you're
getting protein at every mealand snack so that you have
enough to support your musclefunction, your blood sugar
levels, and your hormones, we'regetting enough to replete that
inflammatory process that'shappening.

(04:40):
That goes a long way for people.
And then try to crowd your platewith lots of color.
So challenge yourself, kind ofonce you've had those steps in
to get a variety of produce in.
And you know, if it's doesn'tfeel accessible to buy a lot of
fresh fruits and veggies and goto the farmer's market, frozen
produce is also fine toincorporate.

(05:02):
Or if you're really strugglingwith how that feels on your gut,
cooking your produce is alsofine.
So doing roasted things ormixing your veggies into your
spaghetti sauce, things likethat, just adding a little bit
as we go.
And then once you've kind ofdone that, like I said before, a
lot of the processed types ofinflammatory foods, which I
would say is mainly just likesugar.

(05:24):
I don't put dairy on there.
That's helpful with gettingcalcium and things like that.
But those processed starchytypes of foods that we need to
limit for most health conditionswill kind of start to crowd out
when we're getting enoughprotein and fiber and vegetables
and nutrients in.

SPEAKER_03 (05:40):
And one of the really cool things about this
work is that these relationshipsdon't always stay online.
I actually got to spend timewith Sarah here in Colorado and
have lunch with her and herdaughter.
Being able to connect digitallyand in real life is something I
don't take lightly.
It's incredibly special.

(06:00):
As the year went on, QuickConnect grew.
More voices, more questions,more short, meaningful episodes
that people truly connectedwith, just like the name says.
I didn't realize just how muchthis format would resonate.
But clearly, simplicity pairedwith substance was something
many of you were craving.
And when the Quick Connectseries is paired with the

(06:21):
Indobattery Fast Charge series,honestly, those have become some
of my favorite episodes tocreate.
Not headlines, not hype, butsolid science.
And I wanted help sortingthrough what was good, what was

(06:42):
flawed, and what was stillevolving.
This year, Fast Charge took areally special turn because for
the first time I had a guestjoin me on these series.
Dr.
Canyo Martinelli, a researchscientist studying cancer,
endometriosis, and women'shealth, joined me for episodes
175 and 188.
I met him at the endometriosissummit and we connected

(07:05):
instantly.
He is brilliant.
But what I love most about himis that he doesn't feel doctory,
I guess is what you could say.
He's just a deeplycompassionate, curious, and
joyful human who happens to bedoing important research.
And yes, he's Italian, so ofcourse there's passion involved.

SPEAKER_00 (07:24):
One of the things that has been game-changing is
liquid biopsy.
It's a kind of uh strangeconcept because whenever we
think about biopsy, it'ssomething that you do in
medicine when uh you took asolid part of the body out of
the body of the patient, andthen you examine on a
pathological uh examination andyou get the report.

(07:46):
Here the liquid biopsy is aconceptually a completely
another stuff because uh you canget some sample of any liquid of
the body.
Basically, the the projectstarted with blood, but it can
be saliva, urine, it can betears.
And the idea is uh being able tofind in that sample something

(08:07):
that we can use to betterunderstand the disease, but also
to improve our management in uhin healthcare.
And that's the beauty of things,because for example, how is it
possible that if you have anovarian cancer or endometrial
endometriosis, you know, thoseare diseases that start in the
ovary, in the peritoneum, or uhlike uh all over the body, even

(08:31):
for endometriosis.
But uh, how do you get sample ofthat disease in the blood, for
example, on or in themenstruation on in the uterine
bleeding?
Uh well, the beauty of this isthat first of all, you need to
understand the biology of thedisease.
Because whenever you develop atool in medicine, uh it's not

(08:53):
just enough developing the tool.
It needs to be then you need toshow how you want to implement
the management within with thenew tool.
Because if you introducesomething new, it doesn't mean
that's necessary much betterthan what you're already doing.
And now we are in a point ofhealthcare, especially in
oncology, where the whereinnovation really brought us in

(09:15):
in a fantastic period ofhumanity where we can really,
there are still very, very uhfatal diseases, especially when
you get ovarian cancer latetime.
But uh most of the time, if youcan get them, you can still give
hope to people and give nice uhchances.
So whatever you are doing nowhas to be specific, for specific

(09:36):
patients, that needs to for suregive much uh more benefit than
before.
So you cannot just try.
Uh in the liquid biopsy, it'sit's extremely innovative stuff
because uh you can be lessinvasive because you can take,
you know, uterine bleeding orblood sample, and you can do
extreme fine diagnosis.

SPEAKER_03 (09:59):
Those fast-charged episodes were a little longer
than usual simply because he hasso much knowledge and explains
it in a way that makes you wantto keep learning.
The truth is, he's just gettingstarted.
His work isn't slowing down, andneither of those conversations.
I've shared those episodes withadvocates, clinicians, and

(10:19):
community members becausethey're that valuable.
What both Quick Connect and FastCharge reminded me of this year
is how powerful curiosity canbe.
These series exist because youasked the questions, because you
send research, because you wantto understand your body, your
care, and the science behind it.
So as we move forward, keepsending those questions, keep

(10:43):
sharing those studies you'recurious about, keep asking for
clarity because these are thequestions that light me up.
They challenge me, they push meto dig deeper.
And honestly, they're justreally fun to make.
And if something's fun andhelpful, that's a pretty great
place to land.

(11:04):
And here is your words of wisdomfor your holiday survival guide.
Let go of normal.
Your normal is enough.
You don't need to be as normalas everyone else.
You are enough, you don't needto prove yourself.
And your normal is just as greatas anyone else's.
As we wrap up this reflection,I'm always struck by just how

(11:26):
much learning lives inside theseconversations.
Looking back, it's not justabout the information.
It's what continued to inspireme, challenge me, and sometimes
gently nudge me to see things alittle differently.
My hope is that something youheard today sparked a moment of
recognition, curiosity, or evena quiet, uh, that makes sense

(11:48):
now.
So here's what I'm gonnachallenge you with.
Take one idea from this episode,just one, and let it sit with
you.
You don't have to fix anything,change anything, or suddenly
become a brand new person byMonday.
Growth counts even when ithappens in sweatpants.
Be gentle with yourself.
Honor how far you've come thisyear, and remember, you're

(12:09):
allowed to learn, unlearn, rest,and repeat.
Thank you for reflecting withme.
Continue being curious untilnext time.
Continue advocating for you andfor others.