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I have to help care for my father because he has dementia. He is totally helpless and unresponsive. Nurses come to help. When the nurses can't come, I have to. It takes it s toll on my. I will never do this to my children. It's not fair.

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Who is telling you that you "have to"?

Your first responsibility is to your own health and to your family. " no mom. I can't do this anymore, and neither can you. Dad needs professional care now. Let's talk to the doctor about hiw we make that happen".

Is he currently on hospice? Does the hospice organization have a facility where he could be cared for? The strain on your mom must be tremendous; sometimes people get so overwhelmed with caregiving that they can't see the forest for the trees. They destroy their own health caring for someone who is going to die, one way or the other. Plea see vtake care of your mom, and yourself.
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If the house catches on fire, can your mom get him out? No? Well that's the answer, isn't it.

If mom wants this, then let her figure out how to make it eork. You are in no way obligated to provide hands on care for your parents. " I'm sorry, mom, I can't do this any more".

There was another poster here recently who was in a similar situation. When she finally got her dad into care, her mother's reaction was one of relief.

You need to either step up to get him more care ( from the outside) or step back and preserve your health.

Nursing homes and other care facilities are not the gloomy places they were 50 years ago.
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Why not separate what you really want from what your mother and family want? It will make it easier if you just accept you don't want to help anymore. No judgement, just being honest. If you hate doing it and are burned out then stop. You will tie yourself up in knots and guilt if you continue to mull over what others are doing. None of them are crazy or wrong - it is just what they want to do. You don't and are stopping because you are burned out. Take time for yourself and be realistic before agreeing to jump back in - you may see things differently after a while. Everyone has a different breaking point - not everyone can handle it. Just be kind to yourself and you'll be kinder to the family and able to support them in ways that you can handle. Hope this sorta blunt advice helps. You will never change others, just how you react to them.
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Guilt? Guilt is for when you've done something wrong. If you father is helpless
( bedbound, incontinent) and your mom is elderly, then it is inadequate for him to have nursing sevices ( do you mean aides?) with him a couple of nights a week. Your father needs full time professional care, doesn't he? Or is your mom really doing okay with this?
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Alex, I will take a guess and say your parents are in their 80's or 90's, and it was assumed that it was the wife's job to take care of her husband no matter what.

I had to deal with that with my own Mom when my Dad had a heart attack. Good heavens no, she would not allow Dad to go into rehab, she said she could take care of her husband.... the sad part was Mom was 90 at the time when that happened. She chased out the physical therapist and glared at the nurses who came in to check on Dad's vitals. But when Dad fell, Mom couldn't pick him up, we had to rush over to help. The list goes on and on.

On one side of the coin we want to help out the best we can for our parents and that turns into exhaustion.... on the other side of the coin we are enabling our parents to continue to live in the situation week after week.

Stop enabling, then and only then maybe your Mom will finally realize she can't do it all.
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He has hospice care that comes to the home. My wealthy sister pays for another nurse to come 2 nights a week because Me and my brother were having to come those nights and I kept trying to get a sibling meeting about this but kept calling and texting my sister. The other sister says " no we will never put dada in a home" but can't come whenever mom needs her so she is not in reality. No one says I have to but guilt makes me.
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Babalou is telling it exactly right. I agree with her completely. You must save yourself first. It has to be going into a care facility or you separate yourself completely from the situation. Do not let guilt induce you into destroying yourself. And when Mom's time comes, she will need to go into a facility as well. Many are nice and clean and have competent professional caregivers.
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I agree. My Mom is the ringleader for this insanity. She refuses to put him in a home. She says "don't ever put me in one" but I can't do this again. I will not change my moms diapers when that time comes I will not.
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What is Dad's prognosis? How long has he been on hospice? What do they think about his likely life expectancy? Of course no one can predict this very accurately, but it would help to know if he has started the active dying process or if there are no signs of imminent death. If he has only a matter of days, the disruption of moving might not be worth it. Everyone might just tough it out, if the end is soon. But if this is likely to be prolonged (or is totally not known), then you need to remove yourself from the care picture. Mom would like to keep him at home, but she cannot do that on her own so she isn't being realistic.

I suggest you call for an appointment with the hospice social worker. I know they typically come once a month or so, but they are available to family anytime. Explain your concerns and your plan to withdraw down to visiting only, without participating in the care. He or she can explain options to you.

Perhaps it would help Mother if Dad were to go to a place that could accommodate her being there as much as she wanted to, including overnight. Talk to the hospice social worker about that, too.

Losing a parent is a sad time. I am sorry you have all these other layers of stress to deal with.
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slateviper, it sounds like time is very short for Dad. You don't have to go, you just pay for the nurse like your sister does. If you can't afford that, then you go and you do what you can. It sounds like you have a lot of fear and anxiety. It might help to talk to the Hospice nurse about this. Maybe even call your MD and ask for help getting through this. It's natural to fear when you don't know what to expect next.
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