@unicorn: Yes, it just happens and I am learning to handle things pretty well, and becoming a pretty good cook and housekeeper along the way!
The worst is that my sweetheart of 43 years no longer is able to express desires, thoughts, or enjoy her grand kids and old friends, etc. A very active vital artistic woman all her life, she has some memory recall, but is unable to do the things she enjoyed all her life. Yet she is sweet and even tempered. I have respite care 3 days a week that gives me a total of about 10 hours a week to go smell the roses, or just goof off.
I need to make plans to get 24/7 care in 2006 for limited periods so I can get away and visit my kids in Italy, friends centered mostly in France, my sister in the USA, but why not a trip to Sweden, too? I've only been to Sweden once in my life, as a side trip on the way back from Russia, strickly as a tourist.
Nice to have friends to share burdens with. Thanks, unicorn.
regards, rikytik