Missed it by *that* much

[Vagus]

I thought you were going to move out of MD when you retired?

That was the plan, but my mother's health has taken a turn for the worse. So I have to stay local to make sure she makes it to all her doctors appointments. There is nothing more important to me than family. I promised my father before he died I would never put her in a nursing home. So, I'll sell my place and move in with her if I have to.

There's an important distinction between putting someone in a home, and skilled care. There are plenty of circumstances where you can provide care for your mom until the very end or something like hospice, but there are also plenty of scenarios where her needs will suck the life out of you with no end in sight. And then she may need a level of care you can't give, and that's prohibitive to in-home services. That's probably similar to what Dave ran into. He fought an incredible fight, but there's that point near, but still distant from the end when a skilled care facility is the right move. 

Don't let a promise kill you over it. That's all im saying. And I don't think you're the guy who's in any danger of throwing up his hands and putting his mom in a cage because she keeps leaving the fridge open. I know you'll do her and your dad right.