My name is Ricky Lee. I'm 63 years old. I'm a patient of Dr. Klaassen. I call him Dr. K. One of the best doctors I've ever met in my life. He saved my life. What happened to me was that I noticed that I was urinating very slow, and I kept doing that because men are very hardheaded about going to the doctor. And I had a doctor, but my doctor wouldn't listen to me when I kept telling that doctor about my prostate, so it went on for a little while. So she gave me some pills, some Flomax or something like that, and I took those pills, and so by me urinating again, I let it went for two years. And so when I met my wife, I met her and I told her about what was going on with me, and she looked into it a little deeper, and so she told me to change physicians.

And so once I changed physicians, I learned about some kind of count or whatever where I still really know what it is. I just wanted to be well. And so once I got diagnosed with it, I was scared because I had never had a surgery before in my life. I didn't know what cancer was. I've heard of it, but I didn't think it'll come to me, and it scared me to death. But I had God on my side, that's one thing. I had religion, and so that helped me get through it. When I first got the diagnosis, it was like I was numb. I didn't know how to feel. I didn't know which way to go. I was trying to take the journey by myself, and that was the wrong way.

My wife would ask me every day, "Are you okay?" And I would be bullheaded like old men, "I'm fine." I was torn down on the inside, and once I released that and once I told her how I really felt, and I cried that first day because I had never been through a surgery. I had never been sick a day in my life. I didn't know what that was. When God brought my wife into my life, it made me stronger, and I had to get myself together because I didn't want this to defeat me. And so God sent me to the right doctor. He sent me to Dr. K, and Dr. K told me what I needed to do. He didn't joke with me. He told me exactly what I needed to do, and I loved him for that because I was the kind of person, I was hardheaded.

I didn't listen a lot, but he's the kind of person that gets your attention, and he got my attention that day, and that day started my life. And once I did that, my wife told me to stand up, hold my head up because it wasn't easy at first. I can't sit here and tell you it was easy. No, the easy part was the surgery, believe it or not. The hard part was the thinking about it. I thought about it every second of my life, every day I would fake the day along. I would try to laugh. I would try to be myself, and I couldn't. But the day that we decided that it was going to be one and done, Dr. K gave me a lot of options, and they were great options, but we went home that night. He told us to go home and think about what we wanted to do.

And that's what I loved about him. He didn't push it. He didn't pressure me. He didn't push me. He let me made my own decisions. And we came back with, my wife calls it one and done, and we did the one and done. And that was probably the most beautiful day of my life. Primarily when we got the PS scores, we knew something was wrong, and we had another doctor, I'm not going to call any names, but she recommended us here. And I think God sent her to do just that and sent Dr. K to do what he needed to do, and so I realized that today. And so when Dr. K came into my life, I was scared. I've never really had a confrontation that deep with a doctor before. It was always a regular exam in and out.

But this time I had to really sit down and listen, and one thing I want to tell you, the doctor matters. It matters. I was scared at first, but Dr. K, he reassured me everything was going to be okay. And another thing, I remember the biopsies, let me explain this to you all. Now, that was very uncomfortable. It wasn't the uncomfortability about the snaps, but being a man going in your rectum, that was the most uncomfortable part. Knowing that people are looking at somebody's [inaudible 00:05:49]. It wasn't the pain because it's just pressure. I think it was more psychological than it was painful, so don't worry about that. Don't worry about that part when they tell you they're going to do that because it's not really painful, it's just pressure. So just get ready to feel better, and know once you get to know your diagnosis, and once you get to know where you stand, that's when everything comes into play.

That's when my wife stepped in and she told me that I was going to make it because I was a strong person before we did this, and I wasn't going to let nothing get me down. I was going to smile. I was going to be Ricky. And Dr. Klaassen assured me that I was going to be Ricky again. The main question I had was sex. I'm going to just be totally honest because that was very important to me at the time. I was getting older, and I was already thinking about, "Boy, when is this going to minimize or whenever, whatever." But then this come along, and then we had to talk about the sex thing. That hurt me at first because I didn't know if I could perform again. I didn't know what was going to happen, but Dr. K reassured me again. I told you, I put faith in him.

And so he said, "You're going to be okay," and guess what? I believed him. And guess what? I'm okay today. So don't let none of that scare you.

But the worst thing that I went through doing the cancer surgery was the catheter. The rest of it was a breeze. I couldn't believe it. The surgery, I didn't feel it. I didn't feel none of the cuts, none of the pain, nothing like that. The only thing I felt was that catheter and me, myself personally, I think it could have come out the first day, the second day. That's me now, personally, because that's the only thing that hurt me.

I did everything. I was doing my Kegels every second of the day. Please do those, that's the most important thing about this whole journey. It's your Kegel because it's going to stop you from being wet every day. Today, I don't wet on myself. It's amazing. I listened to Dr. K, and I took his suggestions. I've been through no other treatments. I'm fully recovered. Once the surgery was done, and once I did what Dr. K told me to do, it was no nothing else to do. I was amazed at the progress that I made for myself, and another thing I want to let you know, exercise, take short walks. Don't sit down, and let it get you. Know that you are still strong. It's more mental than anything. Be around positive people. Be around people who's come through the surgery, and did what the doctor told them to do, and you'll be fine. The advice that I would give myself now, I probably never would've smoked a cigarette. I never would've drank alcohol. I never would never even smoke weed. I would've just been clean. Today, that's who I am. I feel good about myself.

Back then, I was young. I never knew what sickness was. Even if I was sick, I never went to the doctor, it was taken care of at home. But today, I feel good about myself. I feel good about living. I want to thank Dr K. He not only made cancer go away, but what he did, he gave me a new life. He gave me a new way of thinking. All of that, please take advantage of it. That replaces all the surgeries. It replaces all the doctor's visit. It replaces all the hurt and the pain that you went through. Please do that. We know when something's wrong with us men down below our waist, that first of all. When you feel something uncomfortable down there, don't let it just fluctuate because it could be something very detrimental. I waited, but thank God that it was caught in time. You might don't be as lucky as I was, but like I say, get a second opinion, and don't be scared to tell your doctor you want a second opinion.

This is about your body. When your car is broken, you'll go get a second opinion on your car or get another diagnosis. Well, your body's more important than that, so go get another diagnosis, and see what's going on with you. Don't let people tell you that it's all bad, it's not. It changes your life. It makes you a better person. It makes you realize that you've got more to live for. You look at life different. You look at people different. For once in your life, you can stand up and say, "Hey, I'm going to make a difference in this world. I want to tell somebody about my journey, and what they're going to go through." Please, get diagnosed. Go to the doctor, tell the doctor to diagnose you for prostate cancer. It's easy. You see us, men are thinking it's hard. It's not, it takes a few minutes. And trust me, it'll save your life. I was hardheaded. I'm not hardheaded no more. Please, get diagnosed.