I told a colleague that I had flown from to/from AZ/ CO to help care for my mother, and help my step-dad care for her as well. Plus I had gone to PA to help care for my 101 year old grandmother, to prevent her from having to go to a nursing home. Plus the homework I am doing, such as researching group homes for Mom, and being in contact with Mom's doctors, and getting a hospice for her. My friend said that when her parents were dying of cancer, she backed off and buried herself in her work. From what she said, I don't think it was the physical labor she did not want to encounter (ie flying about the country) but the emotional labor. Basically, she couldn't be bothered with dealing with feelings. It is true that it is very emotionally draining, whether or not you are caring for a sane or not sane parent. I think one of the reasons why we are here on this planet is to experience the range of emotions, whether we like them (the feelings) or not, they are what make us human. And we are always with the people we are supposed to be with, for some reason, even those who abuse us, or those we abuse. We are not meant to abuse, ever, but that is the free will we are given. Anyway, my tangent boils down to the fact that we must be courageous enough to enter the emotional realm, unless, of course, the emotions are unmanageable and become dangerous to ourselves or others. Dancer, I know many people who have bi-polar, for example. I know people who have been jailed when not on meds, because there was no where else to "put" them! Sometimes I just don't know about our mental health care system. L, PL