My wife Claudia has been suffering from severe asthma for years, and it has gotten worse as time has passed. Over the years, the doctor has given us various tools to help her get over the severe attacks, including pumps, breathing treatments, Prednisone pills, Kenalog shots and, if all else fails, Epipen shots (epinephrine). The last is reserved for dire emergencies.

About a week ago my lovely wife's asthma started getting very bad. She had a wheeze and her breathing was labored. I gave her a shot of Kenalog, and she did better. That was on Saturday. That evening I had to give her another shot, and on Sunday still another. Having to perform this level of treatment was almost unheard of, and by Monday I was getting very alarmed.

My wife has often told me she hates going to the hospital, and even though I asked several times that weekend she continued to say no. I felt she should go to the emergency room, but she refused, and the shots always seemed to bring her out of it.

On Monday I decided enough was enough and told her she was going to the hospital. To my surprise, she agreed without argument. Now I was alarmed - this was serious. If Claudia, stubborn as a mule, wanted to go to the hospital, it was bad. Very bad.

She changed clothes, which took over an hour. That's how out of breath she was. When she emerged from the bathroom, I looked at her face and told her it was time to leave. She said she was not going to make it down the stairs and into the car. I told her I was going to call 911, and she said that was fine.

If I was alarmed before, now I was absolutely going out of my mind. My wife was not putting up any resistance to an ambulance ride. You have to understand she has often told me "dear, if you call 911 I will divorce you". Now this same woman was asking me to call the paramedics.

The crew arrived, took one look and told me it was indeed very serious. They hooked my love to a breathing machine, put her on a gurney and took her down the stairs. I rode in the ambulance with them to the hospital, which is a mere one block from our apartment.

Monday was indeed a long, long day. Claudia was in a very serious condition. She had tubes stuck down her throat and she more or less could not breath without help. On top of that, she's diabetic, and she had recently developed new sores on her feet. This is very, very bad in a diabetic, as they have trouble healing in their extremities. The sores were most likely a direct result of the steroids used to fight the asthma.

This last week has been a nightmare. Fortunately, my boss is very understanding and I have been able to work from home. This made it possible for me to be with my wife most of the week.

As it turned out, she had an infection in her lungs. By week end the infection was healed. Now the problem was a little different - Claudia would not settle down. Every time she regained some measure of consciousness, she attempted to pull out the breathing tube.

This was very bad, as the breathing tube was keeping her alive. She was being sedated because she kept trying to pull out the tube, but the sedation was making it so she needed the tube. Thus, she had to understand that she had to stop trying to pull out the tube so the sedation could be reduced so she wouldn't need the tube.

That's were things stand now. I've had a dozen ministers and Chaplains over to her bedside helping her out, trying to give her the simple message: calm down and you will be fine. I have arranged for over a dozen more to be with her over the next couple of days.

Claudia is the love of my life, my soulmate, the woman I love. She's going to make it through this, but she needs all of the prayers and good wishes that she can get. You can leave your thoughts, best wishes and such in the guestbook below if you'd like.

March 6, 2003

Well, today is Claudia's birthday. She's doing much better. Off the breathing machine, hopefully for good. She's still on oxygen, but her breathing is much improved. She's settled down after a few rough days. I noticed that she lost one of her crowns, in the front. She must have bitten down on the breathing tube and broke it.

March 7, 2003

Visited Claudia several times. She's still in ICU, but off the breathing machine permanently. She's breathing much better. Her blood pressure is still way too high, but the doctors are working on what to do about it. The breathing tube bruised her vocal cords so she cannot talk yet. She's alert, she knows who everyone is, and she is obviously exhausted.