...he's now in a 'residential care' facility. They never did come up with a definitive diagnosis.
Your father is too young to be in a residential care facility, without knowing what the actual cause of his illness is. Please don't give up on him. Take him to see another doctor. Please.
Thanks for your support. He is still going to a doctor, from what my sister tells me. He isn't in lockdown or anything. My sister and her fiancee' take him out practically every visit. I'm not giving up on him, but there's only so much I can do. I have taken two week-long plane trips. The first was to Houston, to get him into a hospital, and try to locate paperwork in his house (a house which was, to put it very mildly, was a horror of a mess). The other trip was the week after the Sept. 11 attack, to California. I was planning on taking my vacation in Portland, Oregon, but decided I was needed out with my sister and father more. Plus, I didn't feel much like a vacation after the horrible attack on America.
I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by everything. That's why I'm trying to simplify -- divest myself of the house, much of my stuff, the daily grind of my job -- and just live simply. On the trail I'll only have to focus on the basics -- food and shelter.