Sleep patterns

It seems that my dad's sleep pattern is completely flip-flopped now, and has been for a while. I've asked the doctors if they would renew his prescription for sleeping pills that I let expire looooong ago because I didn't like giving them to him if he could go without them - however, none of the doctors will renew it for him. This leaves dad miserable with his leg aching in the middle of the night, which makes him grouchy and snapping at me and mom, and we are both about to keel over from sleep deprivation. Dad sleeps during the day, but late at night, around 3 a.m., he wakes and can't get back to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. I've tried keeping him awake during the day - believe me, I've TRIED, but it just dosen't work.

So, I've come up with a new plan that me and mom are going to try. I'm going to sleep early in the evening and she'll stay up with dad until 3 or 4 a.m., then wake me up. I'll stay awake from then until I wake her sometime after around noon or so, then I'll go back to sleep around 8 or 9 pm to get in a full 6 hours of sleep and wake up for the 3 or 4 a.m. to noon shift on caregiver duties. Hopefully it'll work and my mom'll have the help of my brother that lives next door, so she should be able to let me sleep, then I can let her sleep from 3 or 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. or noon.

We'll see if it actually works or not.