My name is Bennie Johnson, Jr. I'm originally from Augusta, Georgia, and I spent 23 years in New York, West Hempstead, Long Island. I've been married for 57 years to a beautiful lady, and we had 2 children. And out of the 2 children, we had 4 grandchildren, and now we have 15 great-grandchildren for which whom I am blessed and happy.
In 2005, Dr. Green diagnosed me with the prostate cancer. And he asked me at that particular time whether or not I wanted to be treated or we want to let it go to see how fast it grows or whatever. But I told him, "No, I'll take the five years and we'll see what happened." I told my wife, and it really didn't bother me at that particular point because I'm a praying guy, and I prayed that this thing would just go away. And I told her about it. So I said, "In a few years from now, we'll check it again and see whether or not we have to do anything."
And 2010, I went to the cancer center, right down to radiation, radiology, and they told me that I had the cancer and I was going to have to be treated. And I went home and talked with my wife about it, and she was a little upset about it. But when I walked into the radiation center and they told me about it on my way out, I said, "Well, let's get started." And at 2010 is when I needed to get the radiation and I met Dr. Lewis. And from that point, I got the biopsies done. And from that point on, it was Dr. Lewis. And after he retired, then I met Dr. King.
And from that point, everything has been going up hill since then. And that's the way I said it. And from there on, I never had a down day of looking at it. I always felt that one day I would be cured from it. If not, we can work on it. So I feel great about it, and I haven't had any problems whatsoever since that situation, and I'm very happy about it. My wife is super elated and happy about it.
My count was very high and I saw Dr. Marty and he decided to put me on a pill called Xtandi, and first of all, I got a Lupron shot, and that shot kind of drove me crazy because I've heard of hot flashes. But for me to actually experience the hot flashes, it was just driving me up a wall. I sang in the choir at my church, and when I was singing, I would just be sweating. Everybody said, "What is going on with this man?" So I decided that the Lupron shots were not for me. I would come in, in the evening and I would sit down and pretty much go right to sleep. And that's not me. I'm very energetic, like to be moving around.
But after that, I met Dr. Klaassen and we decided to just take a break from that. But to go on Xtandi. The Xtandi pill that I took had a little chemo in it, and I was taking four a day, and that kind of wore me down a little bit. And after the tumor shrunk a little, Dr. Klaassen kind of backed away from it. And as of right now, today, I'm off of it for now because my PSA came down so low, and that was the treatment that I was looking for. And it's been very good since then. Had no problem since that point. It rised a little bit at of time, but that's par for the course there.
I talked with my church brothers. We have a men's group at the church, and I told them about it and I told them to be praying for me. And I told my wife, and my wife and I agreed, it's not the end of the world. It's another journey that we are going on. And like I said before, it really didn't bother me as long as I had her on my side, talking with her about it every step of the way and meeting
I'm very happy that I did do that. And it's been all up hill since then.The penile implant was something that, like I said before, my wife didn't feel it was necessary, but I felt from a man's perspective, it was necessary. And Dr. King, she spoke with me about it. She explained everything to me and what the recovery process was going to be, and I felt pretty comfortable with that. And we decided to go ahead and do it. And when I roll into the room to get it done, in my mind, Dr. King don't notice. But in my mind, I said, when I roll into the operating room to get it done, I look at all of these people. I say, "I didn't know she was going to have a staff in here working." So I decided to, as they shot the juice into me to relax me, I felt very comfortable. And when I woke up, she was there. She explained things to my wife. My wife got a chance to meet her for the first time. And she said, "She is gorgeous, and she's very professional."
So I tell everyone that I know, all of my guys that are having this problem to call Dr. King and speak with her. She's very professional. Don't get excited when she walks into the room because she knows her job. And from that point on, I've been, like I say, everything has been going up hill.
I've spoken with five or six men that Dr. King, her patients, and I tell them that it's important to know Dwhat you're going into in the beginning. Dr. King can explain everything to you, but as far as getting the process done, you must speak with your wife first, your significant other. You have to do that because as everyone is on the same page, it makes it a lot easier. One of the guys said, "Do my wife have to know? Why don't she just feel like I just rejuvenated myself?" I said, "It doesn't work that way because when Dr. King explain these things to you, you're going to have to have a nurse to come to the house to help you out for a week or so, and your wife is going to know this." So I let them know that Dr. King, once she speaks with them like she spoke with me, I'm sure they'd be very comfortable and satisfying.
Now, out of the guys that I've spoken with so far, they have agreed to the operation. In fact, as of this week, I spoke with one guy three times, and he's decided to get it in September because he was very comfortable. Some of the things they want to talk to Dr. King about, they can't. And Dr. King knows this, so I talk with them and I relieve their mind. Some of the things they ask me about is so funny, so comical, but it's real. Everyone is different. Everyone's situation is different. Every PSA is different in the count. But I feel that they should take whatever advice that the doctor gives and go with that to save their life. Because I've known a lot of people that have had the situation with the PSA, and they decided not to go to the doctor. And a few years later, they're no longer here. So get checked.