My husband is awesome. He's smart. He's handsome. He's our family rock, not just my rock. I'm Terrence Green. And I'm Tony Green. We have three children and we live in Stamford, Connecticut. We had a pretty normal life, if there's such a thing. But suddenly, we had to take my husband to the emergency room. What they said he had was pneumonia, and he'd been in the hospital for 2 weeks and no improvement. I saw his face get lighter and lighter as if the energy was being drained. And I whispered in his ear, "If you want to live, you have to fight." Another doctor came over and she said, "We think Terrence has multiple myoma." And I baldled my eyes out. I didn't want to have a negative emotional impact on my loved ones, my family.
Even though I'm the one going through it, I know my family go is going through it with me. I know I observe, you know, in the shower you're crying or you try not to let me see it, but you know, it's more than just words. It's body language, too. And I read the body language and I know I, you know, wish that I could go through it in a bubble, but I can't. People who see me, they don't even realize I have the cancer unless I tell them. you know, when you tell somebody I have cancer, it's all this kind of gloom and doom for me. I says, "Hey, don't don't feel bad for me." You know, everybody I've talked to, especially doctors, nurses, they say, "Your attitude is just amazing." And I feel that yes, that is what gotten me through this and gotten us through this. And I frankly would not have gotten through this without you. Since the beginning, she showed up. She showed up strong. She showed up big. I could see her asking questions, being this superior advocate for me. I mean, she has binders of information.
I never miss an appointment. I know I'm fortunate to be able to have this flexibility and some people can't. But when you can't, perhaps ask the doctor, can I record it? Sometimes the information is just overwhelming. This is how it's been. me having to fight for him, the doctors, you know, speaking different uh terminologies that sometimes I don't understand. But it's important that if you're speaking with a doctor and they're speaking over your head or you don't understand, stand on your ground and ask them to explain it in your language so you can make, you know, appropriate decisions for your loved ones. We had to do whatever we had to do to keep fighting and overcome obstacles and challenges even if it meant participating in a clinical trial. We just knew we had to try. We began the process for a stem cell transplant. So it's 10 years 6 months 5 days later.
I had blood work done and talking to the doctor virtually and he says well the initial results they look good and everything. He says, "But we haven't gotten the M spike yet back yet." I said, "It'll be fine." Cuz that's my attitude, right? It'll be fine. Well, looking at the data last night, it's fine. It's 0.00. And that's just my outlook. That's just my faith. And that's just how I am. Sometimes in life when we're faced with challenges uh we don't know the outcome but at the end of the day just try and that way you don't have to wonder well I wonder what would have happened if I did or didn't you you try you do it and you get the result. She mentioned in the beginning whispering in my ear and um saying if you want to live you're going to have to fight. She didn't know I heard her. And having gone through it and having her go through it with me, I wouldn't want to have gone into this fight with anybody else but her.
