 About 10 years ago, I saw a GI specialist because I was having these chronic digestive problems and he was the last line in the line of specialists that I was hoping would be able to help me. So I saw this GI specialist and he basically spent a three-minute visit and he said to me, you know, it sounds like IBS. And then about three seconds later, he palpated my abdomen for five seconds, then proceeded to tell me about the great deal he got going to Jamaica for vacation. And then he dropped a little PS. Hey, you should get a colonoscopy. So I left his office thinking, wow, thanks for literally nothing. Thank you for an expensive copay that taught me literally nothing and gave me no tools to help myself. Feeling lost because I had just exhausted every line of specialists from the general practitioner to the nutritionist and dietitian, all these alternative practitioners. That is what sent me off on a quest. First to China, where I lived, then to India and to Southeast Asia, to naturopathic doctors and Chinese medicine doctors and traditional medical specialists. All the while driven by one thing, pain, desperation, I just wanted to feel well for once in my life. For me, this really reached the crescendo when I took a trip to Thailand with my long-term girlfriend at the time. And one of the most amazing things we had planned was we were going to go island hopping around some of the most scenic islands in Thailand. We were going to take a catamaran and go around these islands and picnic at every single island and see these famous spots. But it just so happened that this trip was at the beginning of our vacation. And unfortunately for me, in seven days, I had not had a bowel movement because my GI problems were flaring up, probably eating white rice every single meal of every day. So I told my girlfriend when we were having this trip of a lifetime planned that I was going to pass on our vacation we'd planned for years because I felt so unwell. And that showed me how bad it really was. Sometime later, I was sitting in a cafe one day and a friend walked in and we just got talking. And he said, you know, I've been diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, but you should check out this Chinese medicine guy that helped me a lot. I'm not cured, but he really helped me. Now I envisioned some guru guy with a white robe, herbs everywhere, a back alley office, you know, all the stereotypes. But I met a French guy and he practiced Chinese medicine. And the first herbal formula that he put me on, I had normal digestion for the first time in 10 years. Now I wasn't cured, but I had hope. And it taught me a powerful thing because I had exhausted all the specialists who told me there was none. And I learned that there is always a way, even if you cannot see the path now. There is always a way, no matter how long the illness has been there. And there is always a way. So never give up hope.