GGal ... Bless those sweet ladies for nudging her towards this. My Dad started to decline too, with the ongoing care and "guarding" that he was doing. I think we would have lost him first, if it had been much longer before Mom was hospitalized. And then again, he was coming mighty close again while Mom was in the care facility. In the end, he had a good life for a few years longer, after Mom passed. I came so close to cracking a few times while my husband was sick ... I sometimes wonder how I did get thru it. Somehow, we just rise to challenge and occasion.