Wetzel, a pediatrician and former president of the staff at Primary Children's Medical Center, retired from his private practice a decade ago after quadruple bypass surgery.

Slowly, his health was faltering. First, he was not able to walk without holding onto Betty. He developed an inner-ear affliction that made him dizzy, and he fell eight times in one year. He moved to using a walker, then a wheelchair. Finally, he was too frail for petite Betty to care for alone.

For several months, a hospice nurse from Harmony, a home health and hospice program, has been coming out every other day. An aide visits morning and night, first to get him up and dressed and later to get him into pajamas and settled for the night.

Her patients seem to sleep better in their own beds and be more comfortable at home, hospice nurse Kristen Wheelwright said. They seem less agitated, she said, when the people around them are loved ones.

In the less-than-perfect situation that is end-stage heart failure, said Betty Wetzel, being at home means "he's much happier and I'm much happier."

They've been married 51 years. And they will be together, helping and loving each other, in the home they bought in 1965, until the day he dies, she said.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com