That's wonderful.   And it is good that you don't have to make any awkward
explanations.

My mother in law's neighbors and friends all continued to cover for her, and
only when it got so bad that it was downright dangerous, would they give an
inch toward cooperating with the doctor's assessment that she really should
not have been living alone anymore.

She was fortunate that she had loving friends, but they didn't quite
understand the danger she was in.   She was taking too many of her
prescription pills and making herself sick, and she was either forgetting
food on the stove and  burning the handles off her pots, or not eating at
all.   She forgot to walk the dog for like a year.... and forgot to take a
bath or shampoo her hair for at least that long too.   Forget about laundry.
Dirty clothes just got worn over and over.

Her life improved drastically when she came to us.   Regular meals, regular
medication, baths and clean clothing.... haircuts and hearing aids updated,
broken teeth fixed.... The daycare center during the weekdays, and an active
social life too, since we included her in everything.

She had three good years with us, and then for about another year she was in
more of a decline... then the very last year of her life was in a very nice
local nursing home, where she passed away from pancreatic cancer.   In fact
she is gone just a year this past Sunday.

We often say around here, that you do your most of your crying during the
illness, rather than later, and that was very nearly true, but we both still
cried when she passed.

But Dana you are ahead of the game in so many ways.   You and your siblings
all know about it, and are in cooperation in caring for her.    The right
medication can keep her comfortable, free from worry and distress, and
although it is difficult, with loving family, and things handled well, it
can be do-able.

Do you belong to a real life local support group?   It can be really great.
We were astonished at how much so.   I just ran into our support group
leader last week, in fact :-)