Although his wife, Laraine, describes him as a man who "can't sit still," Bob Ehrlich spends hours online putting together computer puzzles -- and playing the waiting game.

In January, the couple learned that Mr. Ehrlich, 65, would need a double lung transplant. Since then, Mrs. Ehrlich said, "we don't do anything but sit at home and wait."

She added that transplant doctors couldn't tell them how long their wait might be, but they were told that they need to be near a phone.

"They said we'd need to be at the hospital within two hours if a donor is found."

The oxygen Mr. Ehrlich requires also keeps him close to his Penn Hills home.

"He's on such a high concentration that one tank only lasts a little over an hour," said Mrs. Ehrlich, 61. "Not enough time to even go out to dinner."

Mr. Ehrlich was diagnosed in October 2007 with pulmonary fibrosis -- a condition in which the lungs develop scar tissue -- and pulmonary hypertension, in which the arteries carrying oxygen away from the lungs become more and more narrow.

Although her husband was a smoker until recently, Mrs. Ehrlich said his doctors said the scarring in his lungs wasn't caused by cigarettes.

Instead, Mr. Ehrlich's years of working in his auto shop exposed him to chemicals that gradually damaged his lungs.

"You could see it in his X-rays last October," Mrs. Ehrlich said. "His lungs looked like two big blocks of swiss cheese."

Mr. Ehrlich worked until January, when he underwent a lung biopsy that confirmed his need for a transplant. He had started to experience shortness of breath in 2002.

His symptoms worsened, but in 2005 Mrs. Ehrlich was diagnosed with uterine cancer, and for a time, she said, they were focused on her health.

"He used to sit up with me, doing puzzles. It was his way of dealing with things," she said, noting that she's been cancer-free for three years. Mr. Ehrlich now works puzzles to cope with his own illness.

A double lung transplant is a complex surgery that can take up to 12 hours and, like all transplant surgeries, carries risks of infection and organ rejection.

Improvements in surgical techniques have given double lung transplant recipients as much as an 80 percent chance of survival for a year following surgery. But recipients must take anti-rejection drugs throughout their lives.

The Ehrlichs also face the challenge of paying for costly post-operative care.

They have found help in the National Transplant Assistance Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps families with fundraising efforts.

With the aid of the organization, Mary Beth Danik, one of the Ehrlichs' five children, has organized a Nov. 17 fundraiser at the Monroeville Max and Erma's, where she works. The restaurant will donate 20 percent of the cost of lunches and dinners that day to Mr. Ehrlich's treatment when diners present a special coupon.

Mrs. Ehrlich said she is apprehensive and hopeful about her husband's surgery.

"I'm torn. One moment I'm really excited, and then I'm afraid of what might happen."

She said that after more than 44 years of marriage, she and her husband were hoping to spend their retirement years doing things they enjoy, including visiting Virginia, where two of their children live.

"We never had much of a wedding," said Mrs. Ehrlich, who was 17 when she married Mr. Ehrlich. "We've always hoped to take a vacation to the beach, and we had to put that off when I got sick. But we plan to go after the surgery."

Although talking can be difficult for him, Mr. Ehrlich was able to add that he looks forward to visiting his five great-grandchildren in Virginia, three of whom he's never seen.

"I'd just like to go down there and hold them and spoil them."

He and Mrs. Ehrlich credit the support of their church, Monroeville Assembly of God, with keeping their spirits high.

"We have a lot of faith around here," Mr. Ehrlich said.

For now, though, he waits.

"I used to strap my oxygen to the riding lawn mower and mow my lawn," he said. "But the doctors told me I had to quit."

Travel plans may keep her husband focused on the future during his wait, but Mrs. Ehrlich has a more modest wish.

"I'm just looking forward to having a dance with him on our 50th anniversary."

For more information on the National Transplant Assistance Fund or to donate to Mr. Ehrlich's transplant fund, go to www.transplantfund.org.

To get a coupon for the fundraiser at Max & Erma's, 2740 Mosside Blvd., send an e-mail to marybeth521@comcast.net.