Innovative Healing: Exploring Dr. Cindy Howard's Wellness Philosophy

Rich Bennett 0:00
Thanks for joining the conversation today. We are joined by Dr. Cindy Howard. Dr. Cindy Howard is a board certified chiropractic internist, nutritionist and national speaker with a life rich in adventure from professional dancing to title winning powerlifting. Raised by supportive parents, her youthful pursuits ranged from the arts to athletics, fostering a resilient and vibrant spirit. Today, she runs a successful chiropractic practice, serving a diverse patient base from children to professional athletes, addressing conditions from fatigue to autoimmune diseases. A self-diagnosed Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor. Dr. Cindy authored positively altered, capturing her philosophy of choosing one's perspective and response to life's challenges. We're not practicing her speaking. She enjoys life in Chicago's south suburbs, and we aren't going to mention which team she reached for with her family with the motto of trying anything at least once. Good motto. Dr. Cindy encourages everyone to dive into life, learn and become positively altered. So join us to explore her inspiring journey and insights. How you doing? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 1:20
Now listen, after that introduction. I'm fantastic. Right? I mean, you pumped me up. Great. So I am fabulous. Thanks. 

Rich Bennett 1:29
Professional dancer and powerlifter. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 1:34
Yeah. Yes. And not necessarily all at the same time, so. 

Rich Bennett 1:38
Okay. Yeah. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 1:39
It goes back quite a few years, actually. My dream was to be a professional dancer and choreographer in New York. And based on your introduction, that clearly did not. Come to be which. You know, after a few therapy sessions I have come to terms with and it's all good. And the power lifting, I just always had a love for lifting in in the gym. And when I was in college, I met a bunch of guys, you know, which when you're 19, that's really fun. Who were lifting really heavy and they got me very deep into the sport. So really. Yeah, it became a hobby for quite a few years and set a couple records in. Illinois, even. In bench press and deadlift. And you know, now I, you know, have my £25 dumbbells instead of the heavy ones and you know, my kids all lift me. So things definitely change as we get a little older. 

Rich Bennett 2:29
Were you thinking of Olympics or anything at the time? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 2:32
Oh, not for that. No, no. No, no, no. It was just fun. It was you know, it was something to keep you healthy and excited and, you know, it was a great outlet through college and a little bit after. 

Rich Bennett 2:42
And I think you're hiding something, too, because you said or I said also professional dancing. Yeah, but if you look at your website, it looks like you're singing on there. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 2:55
Saying, Oh, no, nobody wants to hear me. 

Rich Bennett 2:58
Okay, So that's you actually speaking is not. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 3:00
Saying it was me. Yes, that was me speaking. So the funniest part about you mentioning that is when I was in high school, I was in the school choir and I took three years of voice lessons. And if I even sang one sentence of a melody for you, I could probably get you to have zero listeners. I am. That good. I can clear a room in seconds. It's not pretty. No, that is definitely me speaking and engaging an audience, not singing. 

Rich Bennett 3:27
I find that hard to believe. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 3:29
Oh, no, it's. It's true. And I'm not going to prove myself right, because, again. I don't want to hurt the show. 

Rich Bennett 3:36
I have. I have been known to call people out on that when they tell me they were a singer. I'm like, Oh, really? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 3:43
Yeah, thank God. 

Rich Bennett 3:44
Thank God they could still sing. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 3:45
Right? I mean, I'll get up and dance a little bit for you, but I'm not saying. 

Rich Bennett 3:48
So we ask you what kind of dance? Modern dance, Modern dance. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 3:52
Modern dance. 

Rich Bennett 3:53
What exactly is modern dance? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 3:55
It's everything that is not ballet or jazz or hip hop or anything else. Okay? It's. It's still an expression of dance. Oh, you know, that's a great. I've been so far removed, I don't even know how they define it anymore. But. But it involves all sorts of different techniques and whether it's floor movement or jumps, but just the expression through movement. And I was part of a couple of companies when I was much younger. And, you know, it's interesting because the future of that. Looks. Pretty much like dance wait tables, have no money, live in a crappy apartment in New York, starve to death, call dad for ten bucks because you're out of money. And at some point I decided that just really wasn't comfortable for me to write that way. So I got out. I got out of that. 

Rich Bennett 4:43
I guess. You know, you family feel that you're helping others. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 4:48
I am. And I love it. I really found a great calling. I wound up by accident in my profession to a certain degree. It was never a dream. It was never a goal when I was young and now every day that I sit in the office and talk with people and help them with their health care, it's just not work. I really I love it. It's a happy place for me. 

Rich Bennett 5:06
You have to explain to how is it if you fell into it by accident? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 5:11
So my undergrad degree was in exercise physiology because I always loved sport and movement and was always involved in that even young. So it was just it made sense to do that. And like most kids, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated from school. So I actually applied to the physical therapy program. I was at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and they wouldn't have me. Yeah, right. Like my right. They wouldn't have me. So my grades were not as stellar as they should have been. And right, like most. Great doctors, they're. Right. You know. The grades are not hanging on the wall in my office. But at the time, it was actually a very competitive field to get in. So when I had applied to physical therapy school, I couldn't get in. And my father said to me, okay, well, you need a plan. So going to sales, you're going to be really good at sales. So I went into sales and I made a lot of money and I spent every dime that I ever made because I calculated my commissions from the morning and then afternoons spending it shopping like, Yeah, nice young lady. 

Rich Bennett 6:15
Sales is great. But you're right, it's hard to budget your money. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 6:18
Hard to budget your money. And I decided I didn't want to be in high heels and a short skirt when I was 40 traipsing through the snow in the city of Chicago. So I needed another plan. And it was interesting, after talking to a few people about my love for, you know, that physical therapy type realm, they literally said to me, Why would you want to go to physical therapy school and be told what to do by other practitioners? When you go to chiropractic school and tell the physical therapists what to do? And I went, Oh, I really love to tell people what to. Do 

and that. And that's not really quite how it works in the industry, but. It. Raised a little bit of an eyebrow for me or a light bulb. And I thought, you know, let me check into this. So I applied to chiropractic school and I got in. Apparently the standards at the time were lower for chiropractic than they were the physical therapy. I'm not sure what. That says either, but it all wound up okay. And I went through the program and wound up meeting my mentor, whose name he's since passed, but his name was Dr. Frank Strebel, and he taught obstetrics and gynecology in the Chiropractic college. Huh? Which Yes, exactly. Because you think chiropractic neck and back, right? Maybe you want an. Elbow, a knee and a, you know, in an ankle. But at the school I went to, which was national in Lombardo, Illinois, they teach a very primary care program. So we took courses in cardiology and lung function studies and gynecology. And I went, This is nuts, right? I was a chiropractor. We can do all this stuff. I really had no understanding of that. And he really kind of turned my brain around a little bit to go, you know, there's something to this and that's where my interest went. So I wound up getting a diplomat in internal medicine and nutrition, and that's how I practice now. 

Rich Bennett 8:00
Wow. All right. And before we were talking, because I told you, I go to the chiropractor, right? And I you know, I was always told you have mixed and straight and you but you're totally different. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 8:15
Yeah I'm I'm you take the streets and you move them in the mixers and then you've got the outliers like me who, you know, become more broad spectrum of medicine. So there's room for all of us. It's really great. 

Rich Bennett 8:25
I explain it because in on and I told you this before, I was scared to death of a chiropractor. And I actually had my chiropractor drawn and we talked about chiropractic care. But I still think a lot of people are missing the boat. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 8:40
Right, Right. 

Rich Bennett 8:41
Can you explain because I didn't realize every all the different things that chiropractic care can do. I mean, I was like, I met you. I went in for the bone spurs, but my God, it's helped with my arthritis. Yes, it's helped with my. I used to have headaches. Yes. I explained everybody. I what I want to say. It's magic. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 9:01
Oh, no, no, no. No, no. It's not magic. And it's not a religion. You don't have to believe in it. It's basically it's based on science, you know, many, many years of science. And really what we're looking at is structure and function. And when we look at structure and function of the human body, whether it's spinal, which again, most of us look at or in my case a little bit on the chemistry metabolic side and for those that dabble on the neuro side neurologically as well, it's really also about uncovering the underlying cause. So what makes us very different from a lot of branches of medicine is if you walked in with neck pain, regardless of the condition, you know, to a general practitioner, a lot of times that might involve some imaging, but certainly probably some prescriptions. Right. Muscle relaxants, painkillers, right? Yeah. That's the typical we look and we go, okay, how did you get to the spot you were in in the first place? What caused those underlying issues was the lack of movement. Was it too much movement? Was it an injury? Is it poor nutrition? Is it a disease process that's contributing to the particular condition that you have? And when we can find those underlying issues now we make those corrections and sometimes they are as simple as just spinal misalignment, making corrections or corrections, excuse me, in structure and function. And sometimes it really goes deeper into some of those metabolic or neurological components. 

Rich Bennett 10:20
All right. So you said poor nutrition. How in the world does that 

I mean, that that's the one that confuses me. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 10:30
Okay. So let me make it sort of simple. Right? 

Rich Bennett 10:32
Okay. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 10:33
When we look at all of the food that we put in our body, the idea behind that is you're going to need your certain macronutrients. So your fats, your proteins and your carbohydrates, and they do certain things. Right? 

Rich Bennett 10:43
Right. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 10:44
Also, what you absorb are different micronutrients. So vitamins, minerals, some cofactors, some what we call metabolites, some fatty acids, and all of these different components of food nourish our cells, if you will. Right. So we've got millions and millions of cells in the body. We learned about them in biology class. Remember that little cell you to draw a picture of the nucleus and the mitochondria and you're not. 

Rich Bennett 11:07
Just ask me if I remembered something from high school. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 11:12
Okay. Well, I guarantee you I'll do a cell. At one point. 

Rich Bennett 11:17
I failed that. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 11:18
Class. I guarantee you guys I would almost put money on that. I guarantee it. So? So we forget that we use that part every single day. We need to function. Right? So on a very cellular level, if everything is working well in the body, we've got a good immune system. We have little to no inflammation. We've got a response that heals or takes care of any of the bad that we put in. So for example, if you live on fast food and sugar and chemicals, that causes a pretty strong inflammatory reaction in the body, which also can damage the cells, which doesn't allow our bodies to heal. So you fall down a flight of stairs and you know, you go boom and you sprain an ankle and you hurt your lower back. Somebody who's very healthy with no inflammation, proper immune system, great diet might heal. A whole lot. Faster than somebody who is already screaming with inflammation, let's say with diabetes or a condition. And now we struggle as doctors because while we do all this good work to help you heal your body is is is really fighting us a little bit. So when the nutrition is really good, we do better. Now another great example. So you mentioned neck problems. Did you ever have like any radiation, any numbness and tingling going down the arms ever? 

Rich Bennett 12:36
Yeah. Yeah. My left. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 12:38
Okay. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 12:39
Still do once in a while. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 12:41
Yep. So part of that could actually be irritation to the nerve that branches out right within the spine. But what most people don't realize is a lot of times that could even be as simple as, let's say, a B-6 deficiency. And if you're not getting enough B6 in your diet neurologically, one of the symptoms is numbness and tingling. So if yes was a is a chiropractor, if we adjust you adjust, you adjust you and there's still numbness and tingling, maybe it's really not that adjustment that's not getting you better. Maybe it's really a vitamin deficiency. 

Rich Bennett 13:13
Kit at a. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 13:14
Stocking, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And that's where nutrition is so important in all of health. And we forget, you know, and we eat, but we don't really think of the the profound effects that the food really has on our body. 

Rich Bennett 13:29
So I guess for something like that, well, one would have to get bloodwork at what do they call that lip right. Yeah. Little whatever. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 13:39
Yeah. So you might be thinking of a lipid panel. So that's. Yeah, that's it. So yeah. So in bloodwork we do it about. So there's really cool ways to look at this. There's basic blood chemistry that a lot of doctors look at comprehensive metabolic panels. We check your blood sugar, your liver enzymes, your kidney. There's certain inflammation markers called C-reactive protein or said rate. We can run cholesterol panels. That's that lipid panel, thyroid panels in full. But we can also dive deeper and look at those micronutrient levels that I just mentioned. We can look at them in the blood cell and out of the blood cell to see if you're like current nutrition is good or your long term nutrition is good, we can start running down the rabbit hole to even look at your genetics as to how your genetic makeup will respond to certain nutrients as well. Do you mutilate them? Can you absorb them? Then I'm going to get you even further down the rabbit hole and go to the gut and go, okay, now everything that we eat, do you actually break it down? Do you actually utilize it? Do you excrete it Well, And if the gut isn't working great, then I can shove nutrients down you all day long and it's still not going to make an ounce of difference. So our bodies are wildly complicated that way. And yet for those of us excuse me, that practice that way we can take all these little puzzle pieces and put them together to really get you so much healthier. You know, in the in the broad spectrum of things. 

Rich Bennett 14:59
Have you ever thought about starting your own podcast for your business? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 15:03
No, because I'm that's why I'm here with you. 

I don't want to I don't want to line up. Right. Yes. 

I just want to. Show up and talk about the things I'm excited about. You know what I mean? 

Rich Bennett 15:18
That's amazing, though. I never I didn't even know all that. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 15:22
Well, that's why I'm here is to educate everybody. I know That's the goal. 

Rich Bennett 15:26
Well, that's one of the reasons that's probably the main reason I do this podcast is I get to learn something new every day. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 15:31
Isn't that fun? And then I learn something new from all my patients, you know, in office. Yeah. You know, and. Order to me violating. Privacy. 

Rich Bennett 15:39
So how many of them have asked you to dance? 

Oh. Oh, what? I'm not. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 15:46
Telling. 

Rich Bennett 15:49
Time. I got to make a trip to Chicago. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 15:51
Right? You got to. You got to show up to the office to see if we actually dance there and all right. 

Rich Bennett 15:57
So your book Positively Altered? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 16:00
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 16:02
What inspired you to write the book? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 16:05
Oh. 

Rich Bennett 16:06
And this is the first book, right? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 16:07
This is my first of many. Yes, this is my first. So I'm going to give you a little backstory because it's really important to why the book exists. Right. About ten years ago, December of this year will be ten years ago, I diagnosed myself with Hodgkin's lymphoma. 

Rich Bennett 16:23
All right. How do you diagnose yourself? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 16:25
Right. So as a physician, because I have access to laboratory tests and ordering all of these things, I did it myself rather than making the appointment with another doctor. So I had found a lump. There was a lovely lymph node sticking out of the left side of my neck. And I thought, Hmm, that's kind of weird. I'm not sick. So I waited a few days expecting to be sick because a lot of times lymph nodes will pop when you're fighting an infection. And I never got sick, so I ran blood work on myself because I can and I didn't like what I saw. There were some markers that were just actually a little scary. Right? So I sent myself for a chest X-ray. We found the two lymph nodes in my neck and two of my chest. I didn't like those either, so I sent myself for a CT scan. And the report on the CT scan basically came back saying suspicious for for cancer. Wow. So, yeah. So at that point, after consulting some other people in my life, I sent myself to the University of Chicago and had a biopsy to confirm the Hodgkin's lymphoma stage to be. So now you fast forward to get to the answer to your question, because I never answer questions with a yes or no quickly. Which is good, right? Yeah. There's always the story. 

Rich Bennett 17:35
Yeah. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 17:36
So walking through this entire experience, I decided to journal and I've used that before in my life as a method to just communicate with myself, let emotions out, think through things. It's always been a great tool for me. And I have zero education in journalism or writing. I mean, you know, I barely passed English in high school because, you know, you have to pass to graduate. But I kept this. Like diary, if you will. And when I went back and reread some of the entries, I realized a couple of things. One, some of them were sort of ridiculously funny, which seems odd walking through cancer. And two, they were very vulnerable and raw, which I also have I thought was very valuable to me too. Sometimes it's really hard to be that, you know, especially in a tough situation, right, to admit, you know, you're failing, you're scared, you're hurt, you know, all of those things. And when I went back and I looked at it, I thought, you know what? There's enough material here to actually write a book. And a book was always something I wanted to do. You know, years ago it was like, oh, you know, put together a list of things you'd like to accomplish before you're dead. And writing a book was on there and never really gave it much thought until this time. So I put the material away actually for quite a few years, and I'm pretty sure that was out of fear. And, you know, am I good enough to do this right? Are people even going to want to like, do they even care? You know, how much work is this going to be? And eventually I kept going back to this, trying to rework some of the chapters. And I thought, you know, as cliche is the sounds and it is cliche if the book helps one person face a challenge better than they would have without the book, then I am glad I was vulnerable and put my story out there. Yes. It is. So I'm glad I did it. The bigger picture really for me is because I love to be on stage. I speak all over the country to other physicians for continuing education, and when I'm now doing as I'm getting on stage outside of that doctor room, but to anybody who wants to listen or get a giggle to motivate, inspire, laugh and help people overcome the adversity that they have in their life. And it doesn't have to be cancer. There's times of adversity that's not even disease related. And just look at things with a perspective that's different because I will tell you and people are going to think I'm nuts. I made cancer fun. 

Rich Bennett 19:58
You're not the first person I heard say that. Yeah, I mean, they they say laughter's the best medicine. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 20:04
It works. Yeah. It works. And I, I needed I went through this for six months, and if you think about a six month period, which in the grand scheme of my 54 short years on life, you know, on this earth, it's not a lot. But when you're walking through it, it seems like a lifetime. Right. And things are difficult. So finding the joy and the gifts in it really, I look back on it and don't get me wrong, I do not want to do this again. I've paid my dues. I had my experience, but I. I don't wish it for myself either. Like, I'm actually really grateful that I had that opportunity to learn what I learned through that because my life is so much better for it. 

Rich Bennett 20:43
Yeah. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 20:44
You know. 

Rich Bennett 20:45
When you when you actually found out that you had cancer, what was your first reaction? Because I know you didn't say, Oh, well, I'm just going to go journal right away. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 20:54
Can I say a swear word on the podcast? Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:57
That's right. Yeah. Okay. So not on the radio. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 21:00
The first response was shit. I mean, literally, like. Like, like what am I going to do? And the interesting thing was, is when I actually found out or knew I was in between patients, so I had like 45 seconds to process because I looked at my test results, which was really stupid to do in the middle of my workday. And then I had to turn off my take care of myself brain because I had to go take care of somebody else. Wow. So it became sort of this surreal experience for me, which I know is very different than a lot of people because I almost had to forget about it for a little bit. 

Rich Bennett 21:30
Wow. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 21:31
Yeah. To move on. Because when I'm in the room with a patient, it is all about the patient. It's not about me. It's not about anything else. Like my focus is on you and what you need, you know, to get from that experience. Not what I need. So it was it was very strange, you know, to do that. And then I had to figure out how to find the time to turn the focus back on me when I was done working and figure out what I was going to do. 

Rich Bennett 21:53
How in the hell I, I don't. I just can't imagine. I there is no way in hell I be able to do that. I would have had to call it a day. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 22:07
You know, I have this philosophy and I've taught this to everybody that's ever worked with me on my team and how I've always focused my life. And that is when I walk through my door of my office, all of my crap stays outside that door. I am there to take care of those people that have asked and want my, you know, in want our help. And and that mantra is always really suited me very well in practice to focus on those people. So when this came, it was sort of the same thing. It was like, okay, just, you know, put it down on my desk, face down. I'll turn it back over, you know, later when I'm alone. And and I think because I was already prepped to behave that way, it actually was pretty easy for me to do. I'm not sure I would have accomplished that if I was somewhere else. 

Rich Bennett 22:49
Right. So when you got home, how was your family when you told them? I know the kids didn't say, Oh shit. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 22:56
Yeah, 

actually, they. Learned those words. Pretty honest. Okay, we know we don't have a. Filter in my house at. All. So yeah. I'm. I was never that mom, you know, it was. So I actually processed all this by myself for a little bit before I shared with them. I wanted to make sure I had a plan. I wanted to have a plan. I wanted to be able to sit down with confidence to say, Look, you can't really say I'm going to be okay because you don't know if you're going to be okay, Right? I don't believe in lying to people either. Right. But I wanted to be able to sit down with them knowing that I was going to tackle this and that I didn't want them to at least worry from that aspect. Right. That mom's got this. Whatever the outcome is. And my kids were relatively young at the time. I mean, my my oldest right now is 21, my youngest is 16. So this is ten years ago. Wow. You know, so so I don't think they had the full breadth of how serious this was, because I also didn't play the victim card in the house either. You know, it was like, here's what I'm facing. I'm going to have to go get some treatment on Wednesdays, Thursday, I'm going to work Friday afternoon. You have to make dinner because I'm going to be tired and Saturday I'm going back to work and that's how it went. So the kids learned to do a few things for themselves, even though they were young, just because there were moments I had to go rest to recover. But but we conducted I mean, I took them to all their events. I missed one day of work because I fell down a flight of stairs that had nothing to do with the treatments. We just we went about our six months as if I didn't have Hodgkin's lymphoma and just made the adjustments where, you know, where we needed to. 

Rich Bennett 24:30
I'm afraid to ask now, but how in the world did you fall down a flight of stairs? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 24:37
Yeah. So this is another really awesome story because it shows you, you know, the stupid things we do when we're not paying attention. So I was in an office building where I needed to walk down a flight of stairs. They were all marble, gorgeous, hard. Out. Chairs. And I was texting because, you know. Right. I mean. Oh, God. Right. I was texting. And because I was looking at my phone, I had a misstep and I tumbled down the entire flight of stairs. And I screamed. And it was a relatively quiet office building. So nobody. Running. Oh, jeez. And when I figured out that I could get myself up and get to my car, I did. And if you fast forward to the story, the reason I missed one day of work is I was in such excruciating pain from from a sprained knee. I actually, thankfully didn't break anything, but I sprained my knee pretty bad. I was in so much pain from that. That coupled with the pain of the tumors in my chest, slicing or breaking up at the time that I was undergoing treatment, that the next morning I woke up and I couldn't even roll over to get out of bed. So I called in sick to work, which I have never done up until that day ever, and had to, you know, come up with a plan in order to get through that day. And the next day I was back at work. 

Rich Bennett 25:48
Did you finish the text. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 25:50
Of 

Of course. Now that you're. 

Rich Bennett 25:59
You're texting the person or like, what the hell? Why is she saying right now? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 26:03
Right, right, right. I mean, listen, I. Oh, my God. Sweet finish. No matter what. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 26:10
That's just, man, I, you know, and I guess maybe there's years of you being athletic and everything probably helped. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 26:19
Well, I didn't really tuck and roll. The right way, let's put it that way. You know where the knee. Would have been? You know. I would have been in the fetal position a little bit better. 

Rich Bennett 26:29
Yeah, but, I mean, it could have been a lot worse, especially on marble steps. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 26:33
Absolutely. It could have hit my head. Yeah. Yeah. I could have fractured a whole bunch of things. Yeah. Absolute. You know, I was. I was very fortunate and, you know, like anything else, it was probably a lesson for me to stop and slow down, you know? And sometimes we get handed those things that are gifts to say, You know what? You're moving too much. Yeah. You need a little rest. And I only took 24 hours to rest, but, you know, it was needed. 

Rich Bennett 26:54
That's amazing. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 26:55
Yeah. Wow, that's important. 

Rich Bennett 26:57
Okay, so the title of the book Positively Altered. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 27:01
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 27:02
How did you come up with the name of that? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 27:06
That was super painful. 

Rich Bennett 27:08
Significance of. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 27:09
It. Yeah, it was super painful, actually. So the original working title of the book was called Pregnancy Is Worse Than Cancer. Mm hmm. Yes. And you're in one of the chapters of my book. I talk about my pregnancy with my my first child, my daughter, Reese. It was a horrible pregnancy. I'm actually lucky to be alive. I almost died giving birth to her. My God was in the neck. Ew. For seven weeks to the day. I mean, the story is it's really phenomenal because she's this amazing human now that flies airplanes and, you know, is is. Oh, yeah, She's this little powerhouse that, you. Know. With two and a half pounds when she was born. So my pregnancy and I outlined this in a chapter was so much worse than my personal experience with cancer that that was the working title. Well, when I ran it past a couple of people, they actually got offended by it. They're like, You're belittling people's cancer experience. And I said, No. For me, that was my truth. Right? Right. And not anybody else's. For my truth, it was worse. Well, I didn't really want to offend anybody, at least outwardly. I probably offend some people, not outwardly in the book, but I didn't want the title to turn people off in order to pick up the book. Yeah, So. We went through I had about 200 different working titles and nothing really like wowed me at that point because I was so sad on the original one. So I was working with with a gentleman by the name of Johann who did all of my branding, and he sent me this enormous questionnaire that drove me nuts because I had to answer all these questions in order to brand myself. And when I answered one of the questions and I don't even remember which one it was, I had said something about I want one people to read my story or hear my story to become positively altered. Oh, and. I went, That's it. That's the title of the book, Positively Altered, and the tagline of Finding happiness at the bottom of a chemo bag was there so that you do know there's a bit of a cancer story in this when you pick it up. Okay, surprise. And I wanted it to be almost a little funny because there's a lot of funny in the book. You know, it's not just how I survived cancer, right? You know, there's more to it. 

Rich Bennett 29:16
Yeah. Which is good because I think it correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're the audience for this book is definitely people that are going through cancer or have gone through it or even somebody like if I know somebody that's going through it and their humor helps. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 29:32
It helps. But if you're going through a bad divorce, if your job sucks, if you're just down in the. 

Rich Bennett 29:36
Dumps, which is like a cancer. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 29:38
Correct. So you substitute the word cancer for any other adversity that you label as something negative. And how do we turn that around? How do we find the joy? How do we overcome? How do we look for the other side? Right. You can replace those words. You know, it doesn't have to be cancer. 

Rich Bennett 29:53
So how long did it actually take you to write this? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 29:57
Well, Oh. I don't know. In in in man hours or girl hours. Yesterday. We got we got to use the right gender these days. So in girl power and girl hours. You know, 

told you there was no filter. You know. It really was six months. Right. Because that was from start of treatment to the end of treatment, probably the last two years, I've spent rewriting chapters, working with developmental editors and copyright editors to clean it up, to make sure it's presentable, you know, all the way through publication. So the last two years, I really spent doing that whole project from pulling it back out. Right now it's available to purchase on Amazon. 

Rich Bennett 30:39
And now you self-publish or you go through a publisher. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 30:42
I went through a production company that helped me self-publish, so kind of a little bit of a hybrid a bit. So I did all the rights as far as we know, Right, right. So right in that whole editing publishing process. But then it was uploaded to to Amazon and Ingram SPARC, which is, you know, where the the bookstores and whatnot purchased the book from in order to get it through that facility. 

Rich Bennett 31:06
Now is there an audible version as well? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 31:09
There is. It's not available yet. So okay, it's sitting in my inbox to make sure all the corrections are perfect. I even check that box yet, so we're hoping that'll be available in the middle of October. 

Rich Bennett 31:20
Did you did you do it yourself? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 31:22
I did. And it was horrible. What was so hard? It's so. 

Rich Bennett 31:26
Hard. I thought you said horrible. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 31:28
Well, I. Did, because it was. Hard. Oh, but I thought. I actually had it. So. So this gentleman, Stephen Cargill, who did the recording with me was wonderful. He walked me through the entire process. But, you know, I'm not an actress, right? I don't I don't do copy for commercials. So when you do this for the very first time, it's it's almost a little scary because you have to listen yourself talk in the introduction and you doubt, you know. And then I cried through a couple and I'm like, should I have cried? Should I not have cried? But no, it's it's my voice through the entire from start to finish. Except the the very end is my three kids reading the little bio about me. So you will get a taste of the three kids. 

Rich Bennett 32:12
You didn't take the crying out, did you? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 32:14
Know you can. Bye. Where the tears are good. 

Rich Bennett 32:17
Yeah. Yeah. I think it adds to it because I'm sure there's times when you were laughing as well. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 32:22
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, some of the things are just ridiculous. I mean, you will look and go. She did what she said. What? Why would she do anything like that? You know, and I don't want to spoil it for anybody. And then there's certainly a lot of sad in there. I mean, I was walking through through about divorce. My mother was terminally ill at the time. Oh, my God. We've since lost the dog, died of pancreatic cancer. I mean. Right. I mean, like I had the sob story thrown at me all at one time. So there's a lot in there, too, where you think, oh, my goodness, Like, how did she get through this? 

Rich Bennett 32:54
Yeah. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 32:55
You know, I'm just grateful it was all thrown at me at once. I didn't want to do it over ten years, you know, I got it over with, and you know, six, eight months. 

Rich Bennett 33:01
Yeah. You definitely have some more books in you. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 33:04
Oh, for sure. 

Rich Bennett 33:05
Without a doubt. So how did you decide which stories and experiences to include in the book? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 33:11
Yeah, because. 

Rich Bennett 33:12
I'm sure you didn't include them. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 33:14
All. No, There's some private moments for myself. There are some. 

Rich Bennett 33:19
Okay. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 33:20
I pulled the ones that I thought resonated the most with me because, again, of that ability or that desire to be vulnerable. So if I took all the vulnerability out and saved that, then the purpose would have been lost, you know, then it just would have been I here's what I did to overcome cancer and maybe, you know, you can do the same things or maybe you can't. And the book was really not meant to be prescriptive in that way. I mean, I do tell you some of the things I did, and if they have value, great. And if they don't, don't. But this is not a how to get through Hodgkin's. Lymphoma, my book. So I had to leave the funny and the vulnerable in there a bit so that it stands out in a way to serve that purpose. Yeah, even just entertaining. 

Rich Bennett 34:01
So something I love to ask, especially somebody is going through something like this 

on your mental health because I know it had to take a toll on it. But writing the book, did that seem to help? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 34:17
Sometimes. 

Rich Bennett 34:18
Okay. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 34:19
Sometimes. So one of the things. And I'd love to back up a little bit too, because I think this is super important for people is when I diagnosed myself, I would say I have cancer. Mm hmm. And a dear friend of mine, Wendy, one day said to me, because I didn't want to be perceived as sick, That was really important to me because I'll tell you, I was never sick right. Okay. She said, stop having cancer experience or walk through cancer. So when I talk about it, you're going to hear me say, I experienced Hodgkin's lymphoma. I walked through Hodgkin's lymphoma. I never had it. I never owned it. And that was the start of that mental health journey for me in a positive way, because since I never owned it, it wasn't that powerful, right? I took away the control and the power that the disease would have over my mental health, and I took the mental capacity that I was capable of and and overshadowed the diagnosis by walking through it. 

Rich Bennett 35:18
I love. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 35:18
That. Yeah, those words were extremely life changing for me. And I've since passed them on to, you know, to many people who who have also said the same thing, that those, you know, words have so much power that when we use the right ones, they can be life altering. Yeah. So now when you sit down and you write and it's actually very interesting. So writing again was always very healing to me. So it helped me process through the emotional components of what I was going through. But in a weird way, even today, it's interesting when I read certain chapters of my book out loud at book readings or signings or whatever I'm doing, some of them are actually hard for me to get through the words because it stirs back up some of the the the mental component of what I went through knowing perfectly well I might not actually have completely put that away and compartmentalize that. Yet there's still. Things in today's you know Cindy Wright my life today that that stirs where I go. Oh. I'm still working on that lesson and I'm not happy about it, but I'm still working on that lesson and pay attention because there's a reason that those trigger that emotional side that sometimes isn't always positive. 

Rich Bennett 36:25
So before you wrote the book and when you were going, you know, walking through cancer. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 36:31
Right. 

Rich Bennett 36:34
What were you was it something else besides just the journaling that was helping with your mental health? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 36:40
You know, I think friendship super important. Yeah, right. Like, I recruited some really great friends that I always joked were part of my superhero team because I needed to have people to call on when I needed them and I needed people to step away when I said I need to be alone. So so friendship was essential to me. I think exercise was another really great outlet for me because I had always been involved in some sort of health and fitness. That was a great outlet, you know, to to go to the gym and beat the crap out of weights when I was pissed because, you know, I was walking through something I didn't want to walk through. So friendship and exercise were two great outlets. 

Rich Bennett 37:17
But yeah, you were able to exercise even through the chemo and. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 37:21
No, absolutely. Why not? 

Rich Bennett 37:23
I don't. I've always heard that. I mean, people just get like, downright tired. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 37:28
Yeah, I think that's part of the homework we all also need to do in terms of the treatment. So when I chose chemotherapy, which was actually very hard for me because I practice natural medicine like, right, it's poison to me, right? I would never touch chemotherapy. And yet Hodgkin's lymphoma is 85% curable, not remission, but curable utilizing chemotherapy. 

Rich Bennett 37:50
Really? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 37:51
Yes. So when I had to come to terms with using that modality and I did make the choice to do that, I also said I'm going to clean up the mess that they're going to create in my body. So I was doing very high doses of IV vitamin C the day before, the day of the day after, I was doing a ton of supplemental nutrition. I mean, I was popping about 100 pills a day, which I know sounds excessive, but this is what I do. And I knew what to take. I was eating perfectly. No gluten, no dairy, no sugar, no processed foods, no chemicals. I mean, everything I made at home. So I knew the quality was good and I basically cleaned up the mess they created. So I never I never had vomiting again. I only lost the day of work because of the one instance I shared with you. I literally went for I would go to work on Tuesday, I would have treatment on Wednesday. I went to work on Thursday on Friday at about 3:00 in the afternoon, I would be exhausted. I would go to bed early. I was back at work Saturday and I repeated the cycle. And I think because actually I don't think I know because of all the good nutrition work and the things that I've been practicing for almost 25 years, I got myself through it beautifully. You, you, you never would have known I was walking through this if I didn't tell you. You had no idea. 

Rich Bennett 39:03
Is that in the book? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 39:04
It is. 

Rich Bennett 39:05
All right. Good. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 39:06
Yeah, it's all it's all in the book. And it was. It was really important to me to do that for both of us, one for myself and two for my patients. To show patients that there is a better way to walk through illness besides what, you know, one doctor somewhere tells you with a prescription medication there you've got to build a team and you've got to ask questions and you got to find what resonates with you. That works, and what are your goals to get through it. Because if the doctors that you choose don't help you with the goals to meet those needs, they're the wrong doctors. Yeah, the wrong team, you know, And too many of us unfortunately, suffer with poor quality through a lot of these these illnesses to get on the other side. And I just I don't believe that that has to be I think I think quality is really important. And, you know, I walk the walk. So even though my journey is going to be different than everybody is out there, I mean, it's never going to be exactly the same. You know, I can show you it can be done. 

Rich Bennett 40:04
I think you need to take your practice, like throughout the country and just travel and do it. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 40:10
They got to. Come to me. I'll fly. I'll run around the country speaking. But for practice, you. Got to come in. You don't like. Don't take all the tools. 

Rich Bennett 40:20
Like the guy that's got the YouTube channel that's always cracking the the the athletes, the wrestlers and all that. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 40:26
Right, Right. Yeah. I mean, listen, you know, if one of the TV shows wants to, you know, reach out and do a reality TV series with me, I'm up for about six episodes. I mean, I you know, I don't know that I want to do it for. Life, but, you know. We can do a short series of events and I'll travel, you know. 

Rich Bennett 40:42
So do you actually have a favorite chapter or section in the book? And and if you do, can you share a little bit? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 40:49
Yeah. So boys don't like to wear panties. This is my favorite chapter. 

Oh, they get what they get. 

Rich Bennett 41:01
When it. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 41:01
First wasn't. 

Rich Bennett 41:03
Oh, okay. We'll get back to that. Why is that your favorite? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 41:08
So the chapter talks about an experience I had with my kids walking through Victoria's Secret. And the reason it's my favorite is it was a very benign, not important event that had a very big message. And yet it was it was a a moment I got to share with the three kids in the middle of this experience that just was it just was simple and it had nothing to do with illness and it had nothing to do with stress. And it was just a very real moment that actually was very plus. Now that I published it, it can embarrass them for the rest of their lives. So, you. Know. Keeping the therapists in business because my kids are going to have to go, you know, once people start asking them about the chapters their mother wrote about. 

Rich Bennett 41:50
I think you're like me. You're the master of embarrassment, aren't you? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 41:53
Oh, why not? 

Rich Bennett 41:54
Why not? I mean, there are kids. We're allowed to. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 41:57
Absolutely. And if you do something stupid or funny, why not exploit. It for the greater good of of of. Giggles. 

Rich Bennett 42:03
All right, so you sent me the advanced reader's copy? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 42:07
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 42:08
Now, please tell me now that the book's out, that all the chapters have the same names. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 42:14
They do. 

Rich Bennett 42:14
All right, explain. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 42:18
They do so often. 

Rich Bennett 42:19
I hate you. I just. The the one. I just keep cracking up. Cindy's food and poop rules. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 42:27
Yes. Yes. I mean, yeah. So in in my field, when I travel, I'm actually known as the poop doctor. 

Rich Bennett 42:36
Okay? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 42:37
Because you cannot have a meal with me without me discussing your bowel habits. 

We need we know it's true because gut health is so important. It's the basis for the immune system. And when the gut isn't healthy, we're not healthy. So I need to know how often you go. And are they long or are they skinny or the color? And does it smell if I walk past the bathroom and do they float and do they sink? And do you see food in it when you're done? And there's a million questions pertaining to poop that are so important. I know, right? Like, it's probably a good thing we're not sharing a meal right now. 

Rich Bennett 43:07
My God, this is the funny thing because this, like with my kids, if they're sick, I always hear that's one of the things. I always ask them what they look like, what color was there I should, because it's going to tell you a lot about your body. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 43:20
You're absolutely right. And it tells you a lot every single day. So, yes, we're sick. But even when we're healthy, it's a reflection on how healthy we are. So, yes, I walk through certain rules about poop that you can learn about so that you can get educated and start looking at the poop. And, you know, I give everybody, I think, my email in there so you can send me pictures to show me good or not good. I'm happy to look at it. You know. 

Rich Bennett 43:42
Keep in mind, she said pictures, She's not Yeah she's not that the company where you actually send her. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 43:49
To correct. I don't want to box of material right. Now know. There's companies that do that you know is bad jokes so now. 

Rich Bennett 43:57
I know I've seen that. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 43:58
Yeah not me No no no no keep Yeah you can flush it after you take a photo. That is. 

Rich Bennett 44:04
Gone. So what are some of your favorite chapter names? Because I just love the names of the chapter. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 44:09
Okay, let's see. Now, I got to. Open the book because now. 

Rich Bennett 44:11
Okay, Okay, let's see. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 44:12
Chapter names. 

Rich Bennett 44:14
And how did you come up with them? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 44:17
Yeah. So they really all came out of the content. 

Rich Bennett 44:20
Okay. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 44:20
Right. So I would have would see. So the boys don't like shopping for panties? For sure. I love boobies. You can be a big word. 

Rich Bennett 44:32
Say that again. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 44:33
Boobie can be a big word. Okay. Yeah, You got. You got to read. Yeah, that's chapter number seven. You got to get the book to read it right, 

I think also. So chapter nine is called If the Guitar Center Sells Guitars, what's the cancer center selling? Oh, wow. And that one is not on the funny side, but that one talks about, again, the language. So when, when and actually chiropractic is phenomenal, like this, right? So when you go see your chiropractor, we name our companies after good things like I'm innovative health and wellness centers. Yeah right it could have been Howard alignment right. The words in our in our company names are always what you hope to get when you come see us. Yeah. If I call the cancer center, I'm not calling to get cancer. I'm calling to get well. Right. So in medicine, a lot of times we have all of these negative words. And again, that comes back to the power. We give words that run us down, that mental health rabbit hole of the wrong direction instead of welcome. Come on in. We're going to get you better. These are all the fun things that we're going to do. And you're beautiful. And, you know, cancer does not define you. And that's a pretty long title for for our business. But if we can. Abbreviate that a little bit, I think we're on to something. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I got a newsletter once, You know, M.D. Anderson is a big, big center for cancer. Right. And they have a newsletter and on their I believe it's even on their website now, like it says MD Anderson Cancer Center. And there's a big slash through the cancer. So I'm like, they're starting to get it right. I still don't want to see the word cancer in there, but they're starting to get it right because we've got to change the language. So that's a that's a favorite title for me for that reason. 

Rich Bennett 46:24
So I just love the Japanese. Oh, go ahead. You're going through the book. So you got five more now? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 46:31
I am. So the two martini accidents. 

So. 

Rich Bennett 46:36
Okay, Don't tell me you fell down the stairs. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 46:39
No, That's how I got pregnant with my daughter. Oh, 

Jesus. And he was I think it was only a couple of years ago that she actually found out she was an accident. And now. Oh, God, make fun of her all the time because she was a welcome accident. But she was an X, right? Yeah. So? So that was a good one. Oh. Oh. The duplex theory is another one of my favorite titles. 

Rich Bennett 47:01
The duplex theory. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 47:02
See, all these titles make you want to buy the book, doesn't it? 

Rich Bennett 47:04
Because. Yes, it does. Because now it's there in the mind's eye in the world is the duplex theory. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 47:10
Right? So the duplex. So eight or 19 years old, I came up with this idea that when you fall in love with somebody and you think you want to spend the rest of your life with them, buy a duplex, you're on one side and on the other. The lock is on my side because it's my story. You can come over for dinner, you can come over for sex, you're obligated for weddings and business events. And other than that, get out. Keep your house. You know, you can keep dishes in the sink you can keep dirty socks on the floor. I don't want to tell you when I'm going to the grocery store because it's really not that important. And the whole philosophy behind that was is we get so caught up in the minutia sometimes of living with somebody and all these little things that wind up driving us nuts about the person we fell in love with. And if you're on the other side, I actually can get excited, excited to see you tomorrow because I didn't let you in today because I locked the door. 

Rich Bennett 48:09
Interesting. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 48:11
So when you do that, you. Create an entire complex of duplexes for people who are falling in love to see if we could lower the divorce rate, if people could stay together longer. Because I do believe we're designed to walk through this, you know, this life with another person. I'm just not so sure we're designed to do it in the same, you know, 2500 square feet of space. Yeah. Give or take. 

Rich Bennett 48:33
It's I have something similar. My thing is and I always told my kids this, I tell everybody this. Number one, never marry the person you can live with. Never marry the one you can't live without. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 48:44
That's great. 

Rich Bennett 48:45
And I tell people, if you live together, that's fine. But before you get married, have one of move out for like six months. And if you are both miserable, then yes, that's right. To marry. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 49:00
It'd be interesting how many people are not. 

Rich Bennett 49:02
Oh, no. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 49:03
Probably too many. 

Rich Bennett 49:05
You think. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 49:06
I do? 

Rich Bennett 49:07
Yeah. I have a funny feeling too. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 49:09
Yeah. You know, there was when. When I walked through, because I also walk through a pretty bad divorce at the same time that I was walking through cancer. And there was really a profound statement that a very close friend of mine had shared with me. And it was, I never want to be needed. I want to be wanted. Oh, yeah. And it was also really interesting, too, because again, as adults, we really shouldn't need another person to fulfill something or right. We should be very capable ourselves. We should want to spend that life together, helping each other, lifting each other up. And if we really actually need them to do that, then we probably have to look back inside ourselves and go, okay, what are we missing? That we're looking for? A need to be fulfilled? Yeah, that. Isn't. A lot. Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:57
Wow. So even though this just came out, how's the feedback been so far? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 50:03
It's awesome. I love it. So I'm asking people to share, and I really mean that. Like, good, bad, ugly. I want. I want your response. And it's fun to see people who just really enjoy it because it's it's entertaining, but it's also fun to see when people are sharing messages that they're forwarding to other people who are struggling. Yeah. And that this really it's and I know I sound like I'm giving everybody a sales pitch here, but it's a great gift, right? The book is a good gift. Even if you don't give the whole book, even if you just take a picture. One woman who is at my my book site, one of my book signings the other day last week, she took a picture of two pages that I actually read and she forwarded it to her father, who was going through a challenge. And he was so excited because it helped him with the decisions he was making to know he wasn't alone in his mindset and his choices. So the feedback to me is just that's again why I put it out there. It's just really fun to see how people are benefiting. 

Rich Bennett 50:58
You know what? I've seen a couple other authors actually do that now on social media. They'll take a photo of a couple of pages and post it and then where you can read it. Then, of course, you get pissed because it's like, shit, we're happy here, you know? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 51:16
Right, Right. 

Rich Bennett 51:16
And you want to buy the book, right? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 51:18
And we do that too. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, we post little excerpts from the book all the time, you know, for that reason to get you interested, but really mostly to inspire you just a little bit differently. 

Rich Bennett 51:30
So before before we wrap up about the book, 

yeah, I'm trying to think of how to 

who we are. I mean, because we are already, as you said, your audience for this book. And I think your audience is everybody. In all honesty. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 51:51
It is on some levels, yes. 

Rich Bennett 51:53
Yeah. Because I think with the humor and everything, I wish in all honesty, I wish this book was around when my mother was going through cancer, the book that we read, well, the book that I read that helped me was The Secret. But the other one that I read it, and then I passed it on to my mother and everybody. And the book got passed so much and it helped a lot of people was Tuesdays with Morrie. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 52:17
Oh. I quote that in my book. 

Rich Bennett 52:20
A really? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 52:21
Sure. Because, you know, when I had the pity party for a few minutes. Mm Right. I had the pity party, I would sit on my shower floor going, really, what did I do to deserve this? And why me and this isn't fair. And I played that game right. But, but I set a time limit to do that. And then I spent the rest of the time figuring out how to make it fun and overcome. So I love that book. And actually I'm familiar with both of them. I think they're great. We have to manifest what we want. And Tuesdays with Morrie is a phenomenal message. Oh yeah, Phenomenal. 

Rich Bennett 52:53
Mitch Albom's just and oh my God, I, I haven't read a bad book from him. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 53:00
Now because at. 

Rich Bennett 53:01
That point, you know, and that was the first book I read from him. And then it was the five people you meet in heaven. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 53:07
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 53:08
And there was another one I just read recently the I think it's the Stranger in the Lifeboat. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 53:14
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 53:15
Or something like that. And if you haven't read that yet, you got it. You have to read it. Actually. Let me ask you that, because as an author now, now that you're an author and an author and a writer. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 53:26
Right. 

Rich Bennett 53:26
Who are some of your favorite authors? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 53:30
Oh, you know, this question always comes in. I always I always struggle. David Sedaris is probably one of my favorites. I love the way he tells a story You can pull out at individual chapter and just read it without even reading from cover to cover. And I think that's really fun. But other than that, and I know this is going to sound terrible, but I don't really have like, I don't follow a certain author where I read everything in the sequence. But I will tell you, I love trash. Like trash. Yeah, I like fiction. Trash like, I just love, like, the no brainer. And I don't mean that disrespectfully, but I just mean like, because I'm so in medicine and reading journals, right? And like, I don't want anything that requires following 32 characters and I want anything historical where it brings me back to history class that I didn't like in school. Like, I just want to read about, you know, like Suzy who went to the beach and there was this hot guy and she fell in love. And then, you know, he wound up having this mystery life behind the scenes that she knew nothing about. And I go, You're stupid. This was coming, right? You know, like that, that that sort of no brainer. You threw a book in 2 hours on a beach. Yeah. And at least just be really entertained. So, you know, for me, that kind of stuff is really fun. 

Rich Bennett 54:41
I got a lot of authors I can turn you on. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 54:45
So now what good. Are you, though? My daughter has turned me on to Colleen Hoover and a lot of she's in college and a lot of the girls are reading her books and don't ask me to read off the titles because, you know, menopause, I can barely remember yesterday, but a pile of her books are sitting and I've been through a few of them. And those are they're really fun. They're very, very well-written. And she's just she's really easy to just enjoy. 

Rich Bennett 55:08
Huh? Colleen Hoover. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 55:11
HOOVER. 

Rich Bennett 55:12
Okay. So tell everybody where they can get your book and your website. And if they want to fly to Chicago, if they want to bring you in as a speaker, yadda, yadda, you know, all that good stuff. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 55:25
You got it. So the book is available on Amazon. So if you just type in Positively Altered or even Dr. Cindy M Howard, it's going to come up. You can get it on Kindle paperback hardcover and hopefully, you know, mid-October if the date works for the audio version. So that's great. If you go to Dr. Cindy, speak just like it sounds. No period after doctor Dr. Cindy speaks dot com. That's the website and you can sign up for my newsletter so you can find out what's going on in my life or what I want to share. And you can see all the media that I've been involved in. So the show certainly will be on the website as well too. And there's even a speaker page. So yeah, if you have any needs for speaking, I would love to be considered as a keynote speaker. Will will bring serious will bring funny will bring medical will bring whatever you want or I'll bring along underwear and there's a joke in there somewhere too just so you know I'll bring whatever you want me to bring. And. Let's see what see? Oh, and then business wise. So the name of my practice is Innovative Health and Wellness Center. I'm outside of Chicago, Illinois, actually in a town called Orland Park. And the office number there is 

7084790020. The website for my practice practice. Oh, it helps when you say the English properly. Is. Innovative innovative h w c dot com. And if there's anything I can do to help anybody out there, just just ask. And if I'm not the right girl, I'll find you the right girl guy or, you know, K9 to help you through whatever your troubles are. 

Rich Bennett 56:58
Well, if you ever do any speak, engage. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 57:02
I gave you my disease. 

Rich Bennett 57:04
I any speaking engagements out here around Baltimore, you definitely got to let me know. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 57:08
You got it. 

Rich Bennett 57:10
Before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 57:16
Well, I would, but it depends on your last question. So should I say it first and say first? 

Rich Bennett 57:22
Okay. Yeah, because you're not going to know what the last question is. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 57:24
I don't. I don't. But I may be able to work in this material. That's the last question. And then I'll. Just be reading it. Yeah. Here's, here's what I would love to do. There's a mantra or a message that I would love for everybody to consider, and that's what I call being bold or b o, l d and our be build your team right, Get the right people to help you through whatever it is you're going through. O Open your arms and your eyes to adversity because it's coming no matter what. So you've got to be ready for it. Take it out and find the love in the gifts. L Is laughter. Laugh through everything so that you can get through it. D Don't apologize for who you are and who your decisions you answer to you. And and if you don't like your answers and your choices, then you wake up tomorrow and you change them. But don't let anybody sway you in a way that doesn't feel right for you. And then lastly, I'll just be reflective. At the end of the day, I go to sleep and I think for a few minutes, did I make good choices? Did I do the right thing for me today and the people that I care about? If the answer is yes, I drift off to sleep and if the answer is no, I still drift off to sleep because I'm a good sleeper. But I wake up the next day learning from that experience and doing what I need to do in order to better myself. So I would love for everybody to just consider those things. It's the mantra that I'm hoping to just keep spreading all across the world. 

Rich Bennett 58:41
I love it. So you've been on several interviews. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 58:45
I have. 

Rich Bennett 58:46
Is there anything that a host has never asked you that you wish they would have asked you? And if so, what would that question be and what would be your answer? 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 58:57
That's a great question. 

Rich Bennett 58:59
That's not allowed. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 59:01
That's well, I have to think I have to, you know. 

Rich Bennett 59:04
Try. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 59:05
I want to be reflective in my in my answer. What do I wish they would have asked me? 

Hmm. 

All right. So the funny question would be is how is your poop? Is your poop normal? Like, do you have good poop? That would have been nobody's ever asked me about my own. Poop, ever. 

Ever. Yeah. With the record, I will definitely be. And just for the record, I have great poop. I, you know, one, two, three times a day. It's solid. It comes out easy. By the way, one square of toilet paper is all you need, because it just should be confirmation you didn't need it in the first place. And I can do that. So my poop is fantastic. 

Rich Bennett 59:48
To ply to ply. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 59:51
Know you don't even need to ply if you've got good bowel habits. 

Rich Bennett 59:54
No, man, that one applies to rough. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 59:57
What can I Toilet paper? Are you using that? It's rough. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:00
Well, that's what it was when I was back in Marine Corps. That stuff was like sandpaper. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 1:00:04
I mean, if you've got good bowels, you don't even need to wipe. There should be nothing there. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:09
Oh, Dan, never mind, then. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 1:00:12
Apparently, I know they were probably looking for something super profound. There was. I think that. Was pretty profound. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:20
Oh, Dr. Cindy, I want to thank you so much. I can't. I can't wait to talk to you again. I'm going to have to have you on again. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 1:00:28
I would love that. We can do that. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:30
Well, you have to come on again when you write the next book, which is I have a funny feeling it's going to be within the next year. 

Dr. Cindy M. Howard 1:00:36
I am 47,000 words into the next book, so maybe not within a year, but certainly soon after.