My mom is now deceased, she was in a nursing home and had Lewy Body Dementia. She seemed quite happy there, considering, and the staff and many of the residents just loved her. She was always pleasant and outgoing.... She recognized all her visitors, but when asked a question, she would reply and start talking about something entirely unrelated. 'Mom, what did you have for lunch today?'......'We went to the shopping center and there were two dogs in the car, where are the dogs? There was a big one and a tiny white one.' ...... 'Mom, would you like some ice cream?'......'See that man over there? His mother flies to Chicago and he doesn't like it there.'........'Mom, want to go out on the patio?'.......'When is my sister coming, she fell asleep in that church by the lake.'......Nothing made any sense. We would just sit there and 'chat' or look at magazines together, but no actual conversations took place. I don't think I have read anything about this, here. Has this happened with your loved ones, is it common? I'm just curious. I did ask her doctor once and got some mumbling about dementia, so I suppose that is that!
She has also done that with me, and we just go with it and I carry on my conversation and she carries on hers and it's fine. Or sometimes I'll answer her questions and reassure her that I'll find that man and tell him. My daughter was visiting yesterday and figured I knew what her grandma was talking about and she asked me when we walked away, "who was the man" I said, "I have no idea! LOL I just tell her what I think she wants to hear. It's kinder and less upsetting to everyone involved not to try to figure out who are all the people she is talking about."
She will often say she has a headache (a constant complaint), when she doesn't know how to answer a question.
She doesn't have the severity that your mom did but their thinking patterns are erratic.
My condolences on the loss of your mom.