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Wife of Ebola-stricken doctor comments on his progress

Debbie Sacra, wife of Dr. Rick Sacra, who became infected with the Ebola virus, discusses her husband's improving health
Wife of Ebola victim discusses husband's condition 01:16

Dr. Rick Sacra, the latest U.S. doctor to be stricken with Ebola, is recuperating in an isolation unit in Omaha, Nebraska. He was flown there on Sept. 5 for treatment.

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Debbie Sacra CBS News

Sacra's wife Debbie spoke with CBS News about her husband's progress, and how she has dealt with the experience.

"As a wife you think about what would my life look be like without Rick there," she said. "So, you do, you just start thinking about how your life will change."

Even though doctors had warned her how ill her husband was, Sacra said she was shocked when she first saw him.

"In some ways I had to channel my thinking into remembering that he was actually sick and that he was not going to look good when I saw him. And he didn't look good when I saw him, he was very pale, his eyes were red. As I said, he really could barely speak. He was slow to respond. You could tell it was taking him a little while to gather his thoughts if he wanted to speak. He was very emotional. So those first couple days were, you know, it was clear that he was ill. And only, really, the fact that the lab tests were changing for the positive showed that the system was improving. Even though he didn't look much better."

For more of the interview with Debbie Sacra, watch the video above

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