HOUSTON  -- Carol Paul, the 72-year-old wife of Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, remains in intensive care at a Houston hospital and is expected to undergo her third surgery since being admitted Thursday.

Spokesman Jesse Benton said in a message on a Ron Paul Web site Tuesday that she “is fighting hard and remains in serious but stable condition.”

Benton would not say what what Carol Paul is being treated for.  The Houston Chronicle reported that she had surgery in Iowa last year after being hospitalized for shortness of breath and low blood pressure while campaigning with her husband. Doctors installed a heart pacemaker at the time.

Officials said they want to protect her privacy and would not disclose which hospital she is in.

A Texas congressman from Lake Jackson, Paul ran for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.