Dr. Frederick "Fritz" Cubin, husband of Republican U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, carefully folded tissue paper around a small halogen bulb while fixing the base of an artificial Christmas tree at the CY Antique Mall on Sunday afternoon.

Those bulbs will burn out fast if they have any moisture on them, and the retired physician wanted the job done right.

"I'm trying to do surgery without getting my greasy paws on it," the retired internal medicine doctor said.

Cubin was released from the Wyoming Medical Center last week after the latest bout with a series of ailments that have left him weak, but still able to walk, drive, and keep tabs on his two booths at the antique mall at 1905 CY Ave.

While frail and hoarse, he shifted discussions smoothly among fixing the small Christmas tree's base ("ow, there goes the bolt"), to his own health ("I'm lucky to be alive"), to Barbara ("My wife has a great deal of responsibility for that; if it weren't for my wife, I wouldn't be here.")

Barbara Cubin has cited his hospitalization as a reason for her missing hundreds of votes this year in the U.S. House.

Besides his health problems, she broke her foot while visiting him in the hospital. Her brother died earlier this year, too.

As of Friday, she has missed 622 votes, or 53.5 percent of the 1,162 total votes this year, the highest number of any living current member of Congress, according to a Washington Post vote database. She cast her last vote on Oct. 25.

Last week, her office did not return calls asking for an update on her husband's condition and whether she plans to return to Washington this year. House leaders hope to adjourn at the end of this week for the year and return in mid-January.

On Sunday, Fritz Cubin filled in some of those details about his condition and her plans.

He pointed to his left side where he'd endured another medical procedure during his last trip to the Wyoming Medical Center, where he was admitted with his blood pressure being 50 over 40, he said. Normal blood pressure is about 120 over 80.

Cubin's health problems escalated in 2001. After several surgeries, he closed his internal medicine practice where his wife was office manager until her election to Congress in 1992.

Among other illnesses, he has had thrombocytopenia, a condition of a deficient number of circulating blood platelets, the cells that help blood to clot, Rep. Cubin's office said in a statement in July.

During his most recent stay at the hospital, he was diagnosed with a hormone disorder.

"Now I have several more holes in me and a new diagnosis, none of which I like," he said.

Barbara has been making progress with her broken foot, he added.

"As soon as the orthopedic surgeon releases her, she's back in Washington to stay," he said.

Fritz Cubin said people fault her for not using local physicians, but then criticize her for not being in Washington, D.C., when she does.

These discussions are immaterial anyway, he said, since she announced in November she would not seek an eighth term in Congress next year.

"She's the best person to do the job until somebody else is elected," he said.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.