Is it wrong to just want it to end?

Hi Trunner,
No it's not wrong. It's normal. None of us likes watching suffering. Your mom is 97 and likely very tired of it all. Some people have strong hearts and they just keep going even when the rest of their body is failing them.
You are rightfully tired. Please try to get others to spend time with your mom so you can get some respite. There will eventually be an end to her suffering and yours. When that happens, please don't harbor any guilt about these thoughts you are having now. I repeat: your thoughts are natural and nearly any caregiver in your shoes would have the same thoughts.
Take care of yourself,
Carol

It is not wrong. I think it is the most natural thing in the world to want the suffering to end. I read a blog once written by a man who was watching his mother slowly die of Alzheimer's. He asked an important question about is it right for the healthcare system to prolong life when the quality of life is what he was seeing in his mother. I understood what he wrote, but had no answers. When do we know it is time to stop forcing food and medicines? Why should we administer fluids in the hospital when the life has become torment? Why treat infections, etc., when all that is left is a tortured remnant of the person that used to be? I don't know, but many people can live such a long time with this terrible disease that several victims are taken during its course.

It may sound empty, but take care of yourself trunner. Do you have help with your mother? It makes it so much easier when there is support and love around you. I know that you miss your mother. I like to think that they will be happy and whole again on the other side. It is what I hope for my parents.