When did I become the parent?

So, as most of you know my Dad came home from Hospice a week ago today to much celebrating...we, meaning my brother and sister, knew we had a very bumpy road ahead of us. However, I never thought it would actually be this hard!

A little background...when my Dad was put into the hospital mid-stroke, my Mom pretty much fell apart. I'm not talking about a little bit, I'm talking about a full on, I'm coming apart at the seams mental breakdown. She's pretty much reverted back to a child, and we've become the parents. We are basically doing EVERYTHING for her right now, from driving her places she needs to go, taking her food shopping, making her meals and making sure she eats and taking her to Dr.'s appointments, in addition to "trying" to care for my Dad when the nurses go home. Thank goodness we finally got her to the Dr. and got her on some medication to help her, but it certainly doesn't work overnight. In the meantime I now have two full-time jobs, my head is spinning and I'm left wondering when the role reversal happened?

Last night was my turn to stay with Dad, and let me just say that it was one of the worst nights so far. You see, from the first time my Dad said that he wanted to come home my Mom fought us tooth and nail. She didn't want him to come home because she just couldn't handle it. Even when we said that a nurse would be there 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, it was still a firm no. My brother finally put his foot down and had a talk with her. After that, she did finally oblige but she's still not happy about it. That's something I've been trying very hard to understand...what happened to "'til death do us part"? Anyway, my Mom decided that she couldn't handle my Dad during the night, so we've tried to put together a schedule between the three kids to cover the evenings. He was doing really great until about two days ago when he started to become extremely confused and almost belligerent (even with medication to supposedly "calm him down"!). Needless to say, I think I got about 40 minutes total of sleep, and I'm literally dragging today. Not only is it hard to see the physical toll this is taking on my Dad, but seeing him so confused with people and his surroundings is heartbreaking. It's so very sad to see him becoming a shell of the man I grew up with....he taught me how to ride a two-wheeler, wiped my tears, kissed boo-boo's, taught me how to drive a stick, celebrated so many of life's accomplishments with me and only a little more than a year ago walked me down the aisle. We know that he is beginning his journey home, and will someday be held safely in our Lord's hands, but really, that doesn't make it any easier on our hearts. Goodbye's are so hard to say.