How Does She Do It?

Ep 110: Dr. Erin King-Mullins - From Surgeon to CEO: Thriving as a Mom of 5

• Kara Flowers • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Join us for an inspiring episode of "How Does She Do It?" as we sit down with the incredible Dr. Erin King-Mullins. From humble beginnings to becoming a double board-certified powerhouse in general and colorectal surgery, Dr. King-Mullins shares her journey of balancing a thriving medical career with being a devoted mother of five. Discover how she navigated the challenges of the pandemic, birthed her own private practice, and authored children's books, all while prioritizing her family. Dr. King-Mullins offers valuable insights on colorectal health, the power of patient-doctor relationships, and how preventive care can safeguard your wealth. Don't miss this engaging conversation with a true trailblazer who proves that with determination and grace, you can have it all.

   - Website: www.colowellness.com

   - Facebook: Colorectal Wellness Center

   - Twitter (now X): @Colo_Wellness

   - YouTube: Colorectal Wellness Center


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Kara Flowers:

Welcome to the How Does She Do It show. I'm joined today by our inspiring guest, the trailblazing Dr. Erin King Mullins. Welcome to the show. Hi, Kara. Thanks so much for having me on today. I'm excited about our conversation. I can't wait to dive in. And before I do, I want to let our listeners know a little bit about you. So Dr. Erin King Mullins graduated summa cum laude. She catapulted from Xavier University in Louisiana to the forefront. of medicine at Emory University. Dr. King Mullins didn't stop there. She's now a double board certified powerhouse in both general and colorectal surgery, but her accolades don't end with her impressive certifications. In fact, Dr. King Mullins has pushed the boundaries of medical science and patient care, leaving her mark groundbreaking research and presentations. She's a beacon of leadership and innovation. Holding key roles in prestigious organizations like the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and the Association of Women Surgeons, just to name a few. Now away from the operating room, Dr. King Mullins. Is the heart of a vibrant blended family, balancing life's demands with grace and joy and any opportunity they can get to be on a sandy beach. So welcome once again, Dr. Erin Kinggold.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Thank you. Thank you. And we just took advantage of an opportunity to be on a sunny beach in January. We went to the Bahamas and we was, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, we, we take advantage of that beach time when we can.

Kara Flowers:

I love the beach in the winter. It's such like a cheat code to life, right? Like you can escape the cold that you, that you're like hunkering down in and putting blankets on and then you just get to go to a beach and be like hot for a week. Great.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So for me, I mean for me, like a vacation is a sunny beach or a sunny location. Like the people who like to, you know, hike and ski and do all those things. That's great. That's a trip, right? That's that. That's a trip. Or you know that that's not a vacation To me. I need rest and relaxation and restoration. Rest. Oh, the three rss. Yeah.

Kara Flowers:

Uhhuh, Uhhuh. I love that and it actually makes a lot of sense. I know well, let's start with a little bit about your family. You're blended. How many children do you have? How long have you been married? Let's start there.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Sure. So well, I mean, I grew up in a blended family, so The, you know, co mingling and co parenting and all of that stuff has been basically in my DNA from the very beginning. So very used to that, but my husband and I share five children the twins are about to be 17. Oh my God. I met them when they were seven years old. That's like basically insane. They're like driving and doing all that stuff. The younger is, uh, about to be 15 and then. When we get onto our shared children. I have a daughter that just turned four on last week who actually shares a birthday with her father, Valentine's day of all day. So I'm like, where, where am I in all of this? And then my son will be one tomorrow. So that's our family. And we've, uh, this'll be six. Oh my gosh. Am I miscounting? Okay. This is 2024. Yeah, this is six years, six years. Okay.

Kara Flowers:

Wow, five kids, six years. Congratulations.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Mm hmm. Thank you.

Kara Flowers:

I think I understand why the restoration is necessary for the vacation. That makes sense. Yes. So, uh, I'm really intrigued by a lot of what you do. Obviously, we were introduced by a mutual close friend. And so, I know that you've done big things that, especially in the world of medicine, What you've accomplished is really, really difficult. It's, it's a lot that you do, but it seems to me that you have also this entrepreneurial spirit and this advocacy spirit along with all of that other, I mean, just immense accomplishments. I'm curious to know what is the root or the seed of specifically that advocacy turned entrepreneurship?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Sure. I mean, it's honestly and truly, it's all been born out of necessity, right? You know, coming from humble beginnings, you know, people ask the why, like how and why did you decide to become a doctor? Was there some sort of aha moment? And really there wasn't like, I mean, I pretty much knew since I was about 12 years old that I wanted to be a physician. Now, what type of physician and all of that stuff, you know, lots of different specialties and, and Future plans were thrown out there. But, you know, it just so going through the process. There wasn't really anything else. So, you know, you had to go to college and then medical school. So that was just my path based upon what I decided to do. You know, I didn't really know that I would be interested in research initially until later. I didn't really know that I would be interested in being a practice owner, a business, a business owner and entrepreneur until later. And some of that was kind of forced upon me based upon, you know, some of the changes that happened after having my daughter and COVID and just being an employee in that model and the accountability or lack thereof in some instances. And, and the way that patients are cared for when it's in a. Guided by a system and not really guided by that patient doctor relationship at the core. Yeah. It just, in, in seeing the disparities and knowing where I came from and what had to be afforded for me to even get here. I'm like, I just, I just couldn't do it. So the God made it uncomfortable enough for me to make me step out on faith. And here I am.

Kara Flowers:

Want to do it.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Yep.

Kara Flowers:

That's really interesting. I have, I have to ask the question that I don't know the answer to, which is like, what is colorectal?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Okay.

Kara Flowers:

Matt, can we just start, start there for me, please? Okay, let's

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

do that. And you know, that's a great question because I honestly didn't even know colorectal was a specialty until after I started my general surgery residency. Okay. So this was something that, You know, I learned later, but a colorectal surgeon becomes a general surgeon first. So after medical school you enroll into a general surgery residency program, which is five years. And during that course of doing your different studies and looking at all the different specialties, if you decide you want to do a further specialization colorectal is a one year additional fellowship after that. And this is what you

Kara Flowers:

did at Emory.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

I did actually I did medical school at Emory, I did residency back at home in Orlando because I thought I was going to be a trauma surgeon. So during medical school, uh, I thought I was going to be a trauma surgeon. So there's a huge level one trauma center in Orlando where I'm from. And that's where I actually went back to do my residency and about six months in, I was like, it's not for me. And I realize now in retrospect why that is. I mean the, I mean, it's, it's fun to wake up in the middle of the night and run and save somebody's life.

Kara Flowers:

Oh, yes. This is how you know you're doing what you should be doing. That does not sound fun at all to me. That sounds like a medical issue for me. Like, I might have a heart attack. I'm gonna pass out from stress. Okay.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So, while it's fun, it's, it, at the end, it's very anticlimactic. You don't hear the end of the story a lot of times. You know, if you're on call that night and you're not necessarily like, On the trauma service or something. Mm-Hmm. But basically there's not a lot of, there's not a really a lasting relationship that's established at after that. So while you may have done a major emergency surgery on that person, you may honestly and truly never see them again in life. You don't know how

Kara Flowers:

it

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

ends. Yep. You don't know how the surgery, so you don't get that

Kara Flowers:

satisfaction of like, right. Oh, I did the thing to save the person's life, or I get to watch their healing journey. You just do your part and then it's like, yeah. gone. Yeah.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Or it's super short term. Like you may, yeah, you may see them a few times while they're around in the hospital and stuff like that. But a lot of times they transition on to, you know, whatever else, and you never know what the end of that story is. And so I look at, you know, colorectal, you know, it's, it's first off, I have a little bit of ADD undiagnosed. Probably should be diagnosed, but you know, I can't do the same thing the same way every single day That's very monotonous and boring to me. Probably why you like what you do, right? Yeah,

Kara Flowers:

a lot of variety. It's important

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Right. So I see patients in office. I counseled them on healthy living and dieting and eating we do Cancer prevention by me doing the colonoscopies, but I do those life saving things as well I do the surgery for colon cancer, but now there's a I see the end of the story. I walked them through that journey. And so I meet their, their family members, you know, I counsel sometimes their family members. So it's much more of a relationship. And you get to see the long term effects of what you did as opposed as to the immediate. So that's, yeah. So that's the colorectal specialty. Yeah.

Kara Flowers:

Okay. And so I want to dive into all of what you said about really being able to be part of the story and the journey. That's lovely. And yeah, I still have a question about the colorectal aspect of it. Who, who comes to you or who is showing up at the wellness center?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Anybody and everybody. So you know, 17 and up, put it that way. That's all I'm going to cut off. I don't do pediatrics, but you know, everybody has a colon. pretty much, you know, unless it's been removed or, you know, there's various other reasons, but pretty much everybody has a colon and or rectum, right? Mm-Hmm. So hemorrhoids you know, I see those patients, so young people for whatever reason, people who have constipation, so sometimes it's not so, oh, interesting. Maybe that'd be

Kara Flowers:

about

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

70% of people that see a colorectal surgeon actually need surgery. Okay. Okay. We do a lot of counseling and discussion and, and discussion and guiding. So just because, you know, just because you have a hemorrhoid issue doesn't necessarily mean you need surgery, but you may need a specialist to help guide you on how to manage it and prevent it from getting worse. Women. Unfortunately, to some degree, our lot in life after bearing children, we can have some difficulties down there with what we call as the pelvic floor.

Kara Flowers:

Oh yeah. We

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

have difficulties managing bowels.

Kara Flowers:

You do pelvic floor work as well? Yeah, I

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

do some of the surgeries and procedures for incontinence rectoceles, prolapse, like all of those things can happen. And sometimes I have to do that in combination with the surgery. You know, a urologist or a gynecologist, you know, if they have multiple things going on, but yeah, I mean, anybody and everybody from, I said, when I have to file my like registration with my license and they ask, you know, what ages do you treat? And I literally say from 17 to 99.

Kara Flowers:

Yeah. Okay. Interesting. All right. I think I understand now. So man, I, I have to ask another question. Like, Of all of the parts of the body that you could choose to study, why did you decide to go with the backside?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

It found me, you know you know, and again, going back to doing those different rotations and exploring the different specialties. This is the only one that I found that, I mean, and I'm sure they're probably, everybody can probably have the same argument, but it literally is like, everything. Like, I feel like so many different specialties within medicine merge with colorectal. So again, we talk about, you know, the prevention and dietary counseling and just healthy lifestyle and eating because people are like, how do I get colon cancer? Or why am I constipated? Or why do I have diarrhea? So you talk about, you know, those types of things. We do, you know, someone, you know, It's a crazy, super angry hemorrhoid and they really have a pain in the, uh, can I say, but, well, in the butt for a long time. You can say whatever

Kara Flowers:

you want to say, girl.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

And they really have that pain down there for a long time and it's almost like an immediate fix sometimes. Sometimes I can do stuff in the office and they walk out like completely a different person. But then there's a huge, then, then I'm the plumber, I'm the electrician. I, you know, if I'm doing the surgery for colon cancer, I'm literally like taking out a part of their body and reconnecting them and reconstructing them in a way that I can either change their functional life. If they're having issues controlling their bowels or saving their life, if it's, you know, cancer. And then, you know, there are emergency situations and there's where patients end up with a colostomy bag or an ostomy bag. And that's very life changing. And there's a lot of counseling and handholding and just conversations that have to go through that. And you have to sometimes meet people in deep, dark places and trying to get them on board with, you know advocating for themselves and really sharing with you what they're feeling, what they're experiencing and what their goals are in treatment with you. So, I mean, for me, it's the epitome of medicine because it connects all of those things together.

Kara Flowers:

Uh, this is really interesting. I'll say, I think, maybe it's not just me, but I think that a lot of physicians These days in the mainstream media, we kind of are not, can I, this is no pun intended. We poo poo it. We're like, oh, but I can ask Chad GPT or I can go to web MD if that's still a thing. Like, I think that maybe we've lost some faith in the Western medical system. And one of the things you're saying that really has me thinking about the value of. a physician is that care element, right? Like, I haven't been to the doctor in a long time. Like, I had home births. So, you know, I didn't go into a hospital for either of them, but I think about the last time I went to see a doctor, a medical doctor. Sure. And I remember feeling like this person did not care about me or my children. Mm

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

hmm.

Kara Flowers:

And I think that's a lot of what's Maybe feeding into the way people are feeling kind of at least, you know, according to like the mass media, right? How it's being fed us. So the perspective that you're sharing, which is like, I actually care about The entire journey of a patient. I care about the research that goes into solving the problems. I can get it from literally the beginning and I can save somebody's life. Erin, that, that's really remarkable. Yeah,

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

and I, you know, it's funny'cause again, I'm a surgeon. I make my living by operating and that's kind of like literally the take that I get sometimes. On people when they come in and granted, sometimes people are at their wits end because they've, you know, they've tried to go there prior to their primary care physician, their primary care physician has tried to help them, you know, for and sometimes, you know, you just need that further specialization. So when they get to me, they're kind of at their wits end. And I tell them, you know, unfortunately, you know, you have something slightly different. This is the best way to treat it. And no, you don't need surgery. And sometimes they're like, Ah, can you just fix it? And I'm just like, listen, Okay, I'm taking, I'm literally taking food out of my mouth by not operating on you. So if I'm telling you, you don't need surgery, you know, I need you to believe me, right? And people underestimate the, the power of their choice. Just because you go to a, and I want you to feel encouraged, like just because you go to a physician, it's okay if you don't agree with them, you don't see eye to eye, it's a relationship. And so if you need to change physicians so that you make sure you get what you need out of it, and that's fine. I mean, the studies have literally shown that the patient provider connection, as far as for similarities, like black patients are going to do better with black providers. Wow. You know, patients from a Latino background are going to do better with Latino background providers for several reasons. There's ethnicity and culture, you know, relationships that come into play. And even if you Just get away from some biases that there may be the stereotypes, you know, the stereotypes go two ways. Right. So sometimes the patient sees a provider and makes assumptions about them just because, you know, a young black woman may see an older white male and say, Oh, he's not going to care about me. He's not going to listen to me. And that same. Older white provider may feel uncomfortable asking certain questions because they may be leading questions or they may feel like they're, you know, the patient may feel like they're being judged. And so there's limitations on both sides that can really obstruct that conversation in an inappropriate way. And it doesn't mean anybody is thinking negatively. Now there's some downright racist and biased people and all that type of stuff. And that's not what I'm mentioning, but I'm just saying just sometimes with that dynamic, sometimes it's very difficult to bridge the gap for people to truly be. comfortable in being open and honest about what's going on or what they're inquiring about.

Kara Flowers:

So interesting. So how does this play into just your general philosophy in terms of patient care? I know you make your money off of surgeries, but you also have the wellness center. You're seeing all these different types of people. Uh, how do you navigate that the biases, which are unconscious, the statistics that say, right, that the care may be better if you identify with them in these ways. As an entrepreneur and as a physician and a surgeon, what do you do to navigate those?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Well, I take, I mean, uh, this approach, this conversation that I'm having with you, like, this is how I talk to all my patients, right? I'm just level set. I try to, you know, speak in as much layman's terms as possible. You know, I frequently ask patients this question. Not all the time. You know, some people are uncomfortable, but I frequently ask patients, Hey, what do you do for a living? You know, and that kind of really lets me know basically a little bit about their lifestyle or ask them a lot of times, you know, right before I examine them, they're in a really uncomfortable position. I'm like, Hey, are you from Georgia? And they're like, no, actually I'm from here, here, here. And then, you know, I find out I've met a, Ton of patients that are literally from within 10 miles of like the very small town that I grew up in Florida. So, you know, just, you know, sitting down when you're having the conversation, not having that doctor speak when you come in and we're always late and by no fault of our own, I promise we all have every intention of being on time, but just walking in and saying, Hey, I'm so sorry. I'm late. You know, something went over, but now's your time. You know, how can I help you? Why are you here today? What is the, you know, and just. You know, and again, there are some patients who still request to see a second opinion or whatever. There's some patients that still request to see another provider, but you know, I'm going to, I've seen family members of celebrities and not even known until that celebrity has shown up to pick them up from a surgery or something like that. And, you know, people are like, Oh, didn't, didn't you know that, that I'm like, no, cause I treated that person the same as I did the person that, you know, works in the environmental services at the hospital. You never know who's there.

Kara Flowers:

Yeah. Yeah. That's so interesting. Uh, so let's, okay, we get it. You are really concerned about giving good quality care to the 17 to 99 year old who may walk through your door with any issue from diet all the way to lifesaving surgery. Okay. You care, and that's apparent. I think anybody that's listening or watching this will see you have a sincerity, a confidence, you got the thing that you would want your physician to have, especially a surgeon. Okay, we get that. Erin, how? Like, I get that you care deeply about this, but with five kids? Like, tell me what happened at the point When you said, you know what, I am going to do my own practice instead of living under the comfort of Somebody else running the business, somebody else doing all of those things, and me just fitting in, coming in, doing my job, and leaving so I can, you know, last time I saw you, you were very pregnant. I'm pretty sure you gave birth like weeks after I saw you. Why do this like very difficult thing?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So I guess there's two ways to look at it. Number one you would think that when you're in a certain situation that you can just show up and do the work and leave. And it didn't become that way. Things just got really bogged down. You know there's a lots of shortages and strain everywhere, you know Some of the hate and I hate using this term and I don't know a better way to think of it now but some of the lower level employees, you know, at the institutions, they're not being compensated well enough to make to make them care as well. And so that rolls over into their job performance their interactions with patients. And so I found myself in a situation where. I was still, you know, just like I am now still having to work after I go home, you know, with running the whole business. I was still doing that then. And I'm just like, why am I doing all this? Like I should not be doing some of the things that this, you know, infrastructure has been set up to handle. And you know, after, you know, COVID and you know, my, my daughter, I had her literally three weeks before the world shut down. And so everything that ensued and changed after that, when I came back off of maternity leave, and I just, it just, my spirit wasn't right. On so many different levels, I was a completely different person. I wasn't happy. I literally had a visceral reaction showing up at work every day. And I'm like, this is not normal. This is not safe for myself, for my staff or for my patients. So my husband actually encouraged me. He's like, Hey, you've got the MD. Pick up, do whatever you got to do. Like, if you gotta leave, start your own. Like, you know, just you, you have the skill set that's required to continue doing what you're doing wherever it needs to happen. And I had never honestly and truly, you know, thought about it that way because when you go through all of these institutions, right. To get your degree, you know, college, med school. I mean, I tell people I've been on the ground since kindergarten. Okay. You know, you have these steps and these goals. Yeah. It's the things that you have to do. And so thinking outside of that box, thinking private practice, like what, like owning my own, what, like, what does that sound like? And now that has actually afforded me a better opportunity to show up and be there for my family, because I have established a culture of staff that my patients absolutely love. Like they love the fact that someone answers the phone when they call,

Kara Flowers:

they

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

may get put on hold, but someone answers the phone. You know, they call them back. They're very personable. They're greeting. These are people that have been in the game for a minute, like well before me, some of them have been my day ones to help guide me through the practice of medicine. So that support staff and that culture and that relationship and if stuff happens, you know, My school flooded last week. The daycare flooded. I'm on my way to, I'm like, I got two kids in the backseat and you're telling me I can't bring them what? And so I'm like calling around and trying to figure out and you know, I've taken my daughter with me on rounds at the hospital and the nurses have gotten to meet her and given her coloring books and stuff like that. So yeah, When your patients and your colleagues in the world around you see what you prioritize in your family and in your care of patients, and that you consider yourself as human first,

Kara Flowers:

they're

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

then going to realize that, oh, this person actually considers me as a human first. I'm not just a chart or a number or, you know, It's like a

Kara Flowers:

trickle down effect. It's like, it's a

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

mirror.

Kara Flowers:

Mm hmm.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Yeah.

Kara Flowers:

You've decided you left the institution, which was a challenge because you've been in institutions forever to get to this place. So you make the leap to do your really own ecosystem, to create your own institution, if you will. And you, you lead with essentially, uh, the idea of family. And like, we talked about you being a part of a blended family, your whole life. It's like, Maybe you possess certain skill sets that allow you to create that culture with even your staff, with even your patients, that does make people feel warm and welcome and included even at your job, right? So take me through the transition because so, so some of our listeners. are high achieving women just like you who are wanting to take a leap and to do something where they have more freedom, where they have more control, more influence over their life at home, their time, and really the impact they have. And I think a lot of people are afraid of that transition. Like in your case, you said your husband encouraged it, but what was it actually? Like, and give us as much detail as you can about the moment that you made the decision to leave and what it was like getting to where you are right now.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

You know, it, it grew into a pretty devastating experience. After coming back from maternity leave and you know, with COVID and limiting some of my operation, my ability to do operations and things like that, you know, obviously the hospital was shut down for many reasons. So some of the contractual things that came into play after that the agreements, the productivity, you know, it was challenging during that time. as it was for everybody. And so some of the conversations that came out of that, you know, between myself and the employer really just made me realize that I was not valued as a person. I was, I felt like a cog in the wheel.

Kara Flowers:

And

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

then, you know, being, At the place, you know, where I had trained that I had literally done my fellowship and then stayed on after you know, I had some support from certain people and not, it, it wasn't, uh, it was the silence, the silence was so like deafening, like people that could literally. Make all the world of the difference silent, and I'm like, because if you consider like, you know, I was that person, you know I was like the, everybody was a lot older than me. So, more established this and that so you know I was young and hungry and when I first started I wasn't married didn't have kids and so I was like, oh, you know. I can do this. I can do that. You know, I signed up for all the things. Almost never said no. Treated everybody, you know, like I was the one texting everybody. I knew everybody's birthday. And so even if, you know, I'm like whoever I'm texting, happy birthday, happy birthday, you know, staff, you know, colleagues, partners, everybody, or whatever. And so just to get into a situation after COVID, you know, brand new baby, life has changed. And just to feel the, Just the deafness. It was exquisitely devastating to know as a high achieving person, you've done everything right, have never been in quote unquote trouble, you know, no no inquiries on your license, no, you know, Lawsuits, no major patient care issues or quality issues and to, to really feel like someone can just drop you. It was just like, Hmm. And so there was a little bit of a dark period there where you're just like, how did I get here? Like I didn't do anything like it'd be, you know, it'd be different if you had done something. That was kind of really where, you know, my husband was like, this is not sustainable. Like, let me, let me ask about.

Kara Flowers:

The relationship to being a new mom, like how did motherhood, uh, play into, especially the devastation.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

The motherhood made me have to put her and my family, you know, above all else. And until, you know, at that point in time, I had been a bonus mom. Right. So I had my bonus daughters, but you know, the, the physical act of giving birth and having this like life, you a human being in your hand that you are like ultimately responsible for, like all of that. kind of self deprecating whatever had to go away. Cause I'm just like, this ain't working the way it's working. You know, you can beg and plead and people are just going to be people. You know, and so I'm like, I had to take the bull by the horns and realize that I'm going to have to form our own, you know, future in this. And so that's kind of ultimately what it had to be. Like it had to be that, you know, it had, you know, It was more of a selfless act than anything else because I could have still been wallowing and just saying, well, you know, this sucks, this sucks, but I got a job. But that wasn't the answer anymore when I knew like at the end of the day, like my family was affected.

Kara Flowers:

That's really interesting. I, I actually made a thread post this morning about the rapture of. physically becoming a mother. Uh, two years ago today, I, my water broke and I was in labor. I had long, long labors. My first one was like 28 hours, I want to say. And you know, the, I mean, it's a, I don't know how else to explain it. It is a rapture that happens physically. Your body is just devastated mentally, emotionally, so much shifts hormonally, right? Scientifically, we know so much shifts inside of. a woman when she gives birth. And I know that in my own experience, the person that I had been as a single entrepreneur with a lot of ambition, a lot of passion for what I do, it got tossed in the midst of all of the things that happen now because of that rapture, the postpartum, what it's like to parent, what it's like to, to deeply desire to be selfless To care for this thing and then also to parent with your husband in your case blended family as well And the complexities of that I feel like I just got thrown into a blender And completely reformed, and to be honest, I, I had another kid five months later, and so like, I never really got out of that, and I'm eight months postpartum now, and I feel like I'm just starting to reform, that blended, that, all that gook, and not things about me, starting to like, come back and come together. Did you experience something like this at the time when you were making the decision to, to create your own private practice?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So it was, I, and I don't know how, you know, COVID just threw everything off and I don't know how much of what I experienced was like normal postpartum stuff versus postpartum and the pandemic. But I'll tell you, you know, I did experience the pandemic as having some blessings and some curses. And while I am devastated. by how it affected lots of people in all of the lives that were lost. I can't help but be thankful for the closeness that it allowed the family to take immediately after because we were grounded. So, you know, you know, my husband, he traveled, you know, at that time traveled quite a bit for work. And so me being a surgeon and him traveling, you know childcare afterwards was going to be really difficult. And we were kind of working it out, but wasn't quite solid. And so you know, three weeks after having her, the world shut down and it forced us all to sit down.

Kara Flowers:

Right.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So not only like, you know, I'm already, and I was like, so worried about, oh my gosh, I'm taking 12 weeks of maternity leave. You know, now my partners are going to have to take the take over all of my patients and now all of my work is gonna become their work. And like, this is what's so that's like, I'm trying to take care of this baby, but I'm also worried about my patients and what's going to now get pushed on to other people. And so it really forced me to sit down and kind of just, I'm like, well, nobody's doing anything anyway. So it, it was so while in some ways I probably experienced that rapture, I think in a lot of ways it. And I think it's really important for us to talk about the pandemic and how it actually calmed things down a lot more for me just because it coincided with the pandemic.

Kara Flowers:

Yeah, wow.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Yeah,

Kara Flowers:

I really appreciate moments like this. I love the juxtaposition of any given moment, right? Like, I think a great story is a combination of tragedy and triumph, and in situations like the pandemic, it's easy to get lost in the politics of it, or in your case, because you are a physician, you have a very intimate experience with what happened during the pandemic. But I love the moment that says, like, This horrible thing happened and let's all recognize that this was horrible for a lot of people. And also there's a moment in there for me that actually was a gift and a blessing. Uh, and I just find those moments to be like special, like magical. Like there's like liberty. There's, there's liberation from the tragedy when you can also see that there's a degree of triumph in it. Right.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Cause I remember, so, and it was devastating. So when I did, so yeah. And then the world shut down and I was like, okay. We're America, you know, we got most of all the major medical advancements, so they'll get this figured out within 12 weeks by the time it's time for me to return to work. We were all so

Kara Flowers:

helpful.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Right, I was just like, we'll be good. May, I was like, okay, I'm slated to go back in May, we'll be good. So apparently not.

Kara Flowers:

Yeah. And,

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

you know, my first week back, I'm on call. And I have to do an emergency surgery on a patient who had a ruptured colon who was COVID positive. And at that point, you know, in, in the COVID is carried in the GI tract as well. And they actually, during that time period had paused us from doing like elective, regular routine screening colonoscopies, because they were concerned that it was, you know, spreading in the air with the colonoscopies. So I'm like, I got a three month old at home and I'm about to go in this operate. Like when, do you ever remember that movie? What was that movie outbreak or something when they were talking about the Ebola? Like when I tell you, like I was covered like with like everything, I don't know how I was able to breathe, but I'm like, you know, and I'm like, and then that time, whenever I went to work, I would come home and I would literally disrobe in the garage, the garage, everything came off. Like everybody knew I had a. We have where the coat rack was in the garage where all my robes. So I'd come in and, you know, drop all my dirty stuff there and put the robe on and go straight to the room and take like the most, like, I don't know how I don't have third degree burns, hot shower, because you just, I'm just like, because I'm breastfeeding. I'm trying to breastfeed. Oh my God. That is so much. So I'm like, yeah, I just, but you know, we made it through. We made it. I

Kara Flowers:

mean, you have a very positive and like even keel. Like, I think maybe that's your personality in general. But that's a lot. That's honestly unimaginable. Breastfeeding was the hardest thing that I ever have done as a mother to date. It's so hard. It's impossible. And it's like, so connected to stress, right? Like the more stressed you are, the less milk you make. Then you're like, well, I'm not making more milk, right? I got to bring down my stress level. But then in your case, you're literally in the middle of. the pandemic, you know, a worldwide pandemic. That's have a lot of respect for you. I can't, I really can't imagine what it would have been like for you to try and balance those things. So you came through it. You were like, I'm doing my own thing. I'm starting my own practice. And how long have you been in private practice?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So we would have opened these doors in, uh, it'll be one year in April. So yeah. So in the middle of making that decision and I'm laying the groundwork for this practice, surprise, you're pregnant again. So So it was like, okay, let's do this. So so actually I started out, well, I mean, the long story is actually was, it would have been like formally, formally, I guess, maybe a year, like around November of, of 2023, because I had subleased some space from another from another general surgeon and was seeing, you know, patients in office, like a couple of times a month just to get the, my, You know, electronic medical record system going and my staff going just to kind of get some of the flows and how, so knowing that when I go out on maternity leave, like it won't be like all brand new, crazy, like insane starting from scratch. But like we were, we were undergrowing construction on my office during the time, like, so I'm in the hospital having the baby while I'm like, I'm like having the field and my husband's trying to feel construction questions. Yeah, he'll be one tomorrow, and we finished construction in the middle of March, so. That's

Kara Flowers:

kind of beautiful. It's another one of those moments, right? I know. I

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

birthed two

Kara Flowers:

babies at one time! You did two at once! That's so special. It's giving me a Hamilton moment, right? You will come of age with our young nation. If you're not a Hamilton fan, that's not going to make sense to you. I

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

just saw it for the first time a few weeks ago. Whoa! Yeah.

Kara Flowers:

Really? It's 2024.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

I couldn't do it on TV and clearly I was too busy to go to New York. So yeah, I saw, I took, I took the big girls to go see it. A few weeks ago on Sunday night at the Fox and they enjoyed it. So I try, I tried on Disney plus I did try and I'm like,

Kara Flowers:

you gotta really love musicals. I love musicals so I can watch a musical on TV, but there's nothing like Seeing it, seeing it live. That's for sure. So I want to talk, touch on a couple of things that are important to you and for our listener who's like, okay, I get it. She's the bomb. com. She's doing all the things. Kara's throwing these questions at her to see, you know, how she's handled these situations and she's honestly just taking it like water off a duck's back. So tell us some things that the listener needs to know, especially about wellness, colon health, like what are some of the things that they need to pay attention to and that they can do to really Make sure that they don't really maybe even need to come and see you.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So, I mean, the biggest thing that I can tell people besides all the stuff that we know we're supposed to do, that's hard for our multitaskers and busy people. Drink plenty of water, eat your fresh fruits and veggies, you know yep. Take a sip. You know, you want to eat the colors of the rainbow. So and you want to shop on the outsides of the grocery store. So, you know, you get, when you're walking, you go to one side, there's the produce and the fresh dairy and the meats and all that type of stuff. When you're going up and down aisles, that's going to be a lot of your process stuff that you want to stay away from that's high sodium and has low, you know, higher calorie to lower nutritional content. So those are some of the basics and then activity.

Kara Flowers:

Wait, Dr. Erin, do you Do you do your own grocery shopping and do you cook for your family?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So, uh, not all the time. So we did hire a part time nanny to help. Yes. And Vavá has been great. She's from Brazil. She's so Vavá is grandma in Portuguese. So that's what my kids call her. Oh,

Kara Flowers:

we might need to talk off camera about this a little bit because Girl, I can't, I am struggling with the shopping and the cooking and everything else. Like it's so a challenge.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

No, I had to, and, and as, as moms, we often, you feel like a loser if you're not doing all of those things. Yeah. I mean, I cook on the weekends or I cook when I need to. I know how to cook, you know, I still do better. Yeah. I'm like, no, my husband's a great cook. He does a lot of cooking as well. He does a lot of cooking as well. I will tell you that I very rarely do the laundry anymore. Okay, so listen, so I've all saved my life when I tell you I had a laundry basket that was piled and overpiled in my closet that probably there was stuff at the bottom of it that I hadn't seen in probably at least two years. No lie. It's emptied now. I know it just is I could never I could put it all in the wash and I could put it in the dryer but could not seem to get over the hump of. Putting stuff away or folding it or doing those things. And you got to prioritize, you know, it's, it's just like being a doctor. You got to triage what's you got to triage, who's, who's the sickest who's, you know, so you gotta go like, yeah, the, the clothes can be wrinkled. I can wear scrubs every day, probably. So you guys, you know, but whatever. So that's that. But the single most powerful tool. That we have as patients in this world. is the power of words and conversation. You need to have conversations with your family about what their medical problems are. Extended family as well. Okay. Cause things are not always necessarily like, Oh yeah, my first, my brother, my sister, my mom, my daughter had something. Sometimes it expands generations to understand what your risks are. So we have to have those conversations. I did I did a show a few months ago about colon health. There was a young lady who had written in and they needed a medical expert and she had been diagnosed with colon cancer just after her 50th birthday when she started experiencing some symptoms. She was diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer. When she was undergoing treatment and started having the conversations with her family and her extended family, she found out that four persons in her family had died. Passed on from colorectal cancer and no one told anybody about it. So you can literally say that changes how early, how often, you know, evaluations need to be when we just know what our risks are, what's in the family. So the power of words.

Kara Flowers:

Okay. That's huge. I hear what you're saying. And that is like, that is major. And it makes me think. If we know what we can do something about this, say preventative.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Yes, colon cancer is completely preventative. So just like after a certain age, we start, the number one risk factor is age. First off.

Kara Flowers:

Okay. God willing going to happen to all of us. Exactly.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So only about 10 to 15 percent of colon cancers are actually linked to a family history. So that means the other. 85 to 90 percent just happened. So just like we start getting mammograms after a certain age, you start getting your prostate checked after a certain age, living long enough, blesses you with those cells, living long enough and getting deranged and can cause a problem. Right. So that's the number one risk. Okay. So we've got to make sure we have those conversations now, those family history and all that stuff that just heightens that just adds to it because that, you know it changes, you know, how often we need to look for things. and at what time we need to look for things. The second most powerful thing that we have is a A relationship with a primary care provider. Now we can go all the way down the line and people talk doctor versus nurse practitioner versus PA, whatever, someone who knows you consistently they know your history, because we don't just operate off of you showing up and having a complaint. We have to also look at trends, right? So if they know you, if they know that, Hey, you never have a problem when you show up and say, you got a problem, that person knows you and trusts you and believes you have a problem instead of you going to the ER, they got a gazillion people in front of them. They don't know if you're, you know, right. Level is really one, but you're, you know, have high anxiety. So it feels like a 10, you know what I'm saying? They don't, they don't know you. They get that lab work and maybe you're, you You know, your thyroid is off your, your anemic, your blood counts are low. They don't know if that's normal for you or if that's a really serious situation. You know, they don't know your trends.

Kara Flowers:

So what are we, what are we talking like annual physical type of situation? Okay. Yes.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

You get those annual physical, you get those annual labs, you can prevent, you know, if your blood sugar is creeping up, Hey, we got to intervene before you get full on diabetes. We know your blood counts are draining out. Hey. Why are we losing blood? Why are you, you know, or you, you're complaining that you're super tired. Your weight has changed significantly, like what is causing this?

Kara Flowers:

No, I appreciate this. I, I, I, to be honest, I was always like, why don't you need to come in for a physical if there's nothing wrong with me? But I get it. Okay. Talk. Build a relationship with a primary care provider. Anything else? Okay. This has been really enlightening for me. I probably got some questions. I'm going to just like pose your way afterwards just to make sure I understand, you know, some like maybe more intimate personal questions, you know, not to like, obviously I have with a mutual friend who's a physician and she does not like it when people come to her asking her medical questions, but so not to do that, but I do have some questions for you. Yeah. In the meantime, listen, if people are listening and they're like, how do I get in touch, in touch with Dr. King Mullen's like, I, I, I want to be on her podcast. I want to know more about this. I need more education or they just want to reach you personally. How would they find you?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

So the best way to start out is our website, which is www. colowellness. com that's C O L O. Wellness. com colorectal wellness center is also on Facebook and I guess X now formerly known as Twitter. And we have a YouTube channel as well that we're starting. So we'll have a couple of podcasts in recording and educational talks that I'd done before that'll be on there. So that's where you can find us.

Kara Flowers:

Perfect. And before you go, I just have one final question.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

Yes.

Kara Flowers:

Like you handled everything with grace. You've got five kids, blended family. You're a wife. You're a physician. You're a researcher. You're an advocate. You're an entrepreneur. You survived the pandemic. You've done all of these things. You really do live a big life. So how do you do it?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

I wake up in the morning and put one foot down. And if the other one moves with it, Then I guess it's time to keep going. And that's pretty much it. Oh shoot! I forgot to tell you. I wrote a book. A children's book. They gotta go get my book. Tell us about the book! And she's an author. We forgot to add this to it. Two books. Okay. So the first one is Mommy I Made a Boo Boo. And that's about digestive health and that it's normal to pass waste and some people pass it differently and you can learn about the digestive organs. And the concept behind it is to get kids involved early in these conversations and to help teach the whole family. And then the second one is called mommy gets a colonoscopy. So it's about the process of mommy going in, we're looking for polyps to prevent cancer. So again, getting the idea of prevention and health and wellness and kind of what's normal for the whole family early so that we can, you know, be a better community and better stewards of our health.

Kara Flowers:

I'm completely shocked that you also did this. Uh, you'll have to send me, we'll put the, we'll put the links in the show notes for people that want to get it. Okay, wait a minute though. But so now we add author to all of that. Is there any other, other than just putting one foot in front of the other, like, Erin, like, Seriously, how are you so together and so even killed? Like, what is your secret that allows you to do all of this?

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

You know, I was actually a lot less together when probably when I was single and didn't have kids. Because that just, the, the focus that comes with that and the more, the purpose and the dedication and goals that you have to have. And then it's also like, you know, with my transition and kind of, you know, Being put in a very uncomfortable position to kind of force me out to start my own private practice is just like, well, Hey, if it don't work, I'm sure I can just go get another job as a doctor. So, Hey, if nobody bought my book, oh, well, I'm still an author. So

Kara Flowers:

I love that. Amazing. Wow. DErinron King Mullins. Thank you for sharing your journey, everything that you did. I'm sure that this episode is going to inspire and also educate people. So thank you so much for sharing today.

Erin King-Mullins, MD:

No problem. Thanks for having me.

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