A true Hollywood story. (my perspective).

Joe and I met in 1983 and have been together since that first night. As we talked about celebrating our fifth anniversary with a commitment ceremony, I decided to get my life in order. I was directing a game show on CBS and had health coverage but no life insurance. About a week after applying for a life policy, I received a certified letter stating that I was being declined "due to abnormalities found in [my] blood." Stunned, Joe and I got tested for HIV. As we feared, mine came back positive, but, luckily, Joe's came back negative. Since we'd been monogamous, we knew I was infected before we met. How or why I never infected Joe in those first five years before safer sex is a mystery and the first of many miracles.

I felt I had been given a death sentence and thought it was pointless to have a commitment ceremony. But Joe felt it was more important than ever to announce our love in a public way, and we forged ahead with our plans. The ceremony was held on a perfect July day at our doctor's home in L.A.'s Pacific Palisades, overlooking the coast. When we got to the part about "in sickness and in health," there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

For the next five years I continued working as a television director on various game shows, and Joe began a new career as a dog trainer and started showing our Tibetan terriers at dog shows. But in 1993 I developed the first of many opportunistic infections, Pneumocystis pneumonia, and began the first of many hospital stays. In the precocktail days, going from being HIV-positive to having full-blown AIDS meant it was only a matter of time.

Sure enough, a year later I was too sick to work. Joe quit his job to take care of me full-time: mixing IV medications--up to 40 syringes a day--cooking, cleaning, and putting up with my moods. Joe is the ultimate optimist and begged me not to give up. I often wanted to stomp on his rose-colored glasses.

Within two years we had exhausted all of our savings and racked up about $80,000 in credit card debt. I was sick of being sick and finally convinced Joe to "let me go." The next time I got really sick, we agreed, we'd let nature takes it course.

Then in April 1996 the first protease inhibitor came on the market, and I began the anti-HIV cocktail right away. Within four weeks I was out of bed and feeling unbelievably better.

A month later Jay Wolpert (my producer and great friend for 20 years) called to tell me that he'd sold two game shows and asked if I felt well enough to direct them both. Before I knew it I was back in the studio. Often directors and actors with HIV can't get hired because the studios can't insure them. But that didn't matter to Jay or to Mike Ogiens, the head of MTM, the production company. They just wanted to help me get a second shot at life.

Meanwhile, Joe's career as a dog trainer had really taken off when our dog Max won best of breed at the Westminster Dog Show in New York. Joe was getting so many clients that we decided to sell our little home in the hills above West Hollywood and invest every dime of our money in a five-acre dog-training ranch in Topanga Canyon.

We went to work clearing the grounds and planting rose gardens, bamboo gardens, and a fruit orchard. We got horses, built a state-of-the-art kennel building, and created large, open yards for the dogs, with ponds, fountains, and a dog-bone-shape swimming pool. We've been here three years now, and Canyon View has become a big hit as a "country club for dogs." Our clients tell us it's harder to get a reservation for their dogs at Canyon View than it is to get one for themselves at Spago.

In short, Joe and I--and our seven Tibetan terriers, 10 employees, and about 30 doggy guests--are having the time of our lives!

But beyond the business success and even my renewed health, the real miracle is what can happen when two people really love each other. After 18 years, Joe and I are happier and more in love than we've ever been. Sometimes I wonder if I really did die and this is heaven.

Neece has a new show in development with the Game Show Network.