Not much has changed over the last month. Mum has been asleep most times I've visited recently but today she was awake and said 'hello [my real life name]' when I said 'hello mum', which was pretty amazing. She then complimented on what I was wearing. I didn't stay long but she was cheerful if still not getting out of bed, and still wondering why her parents don't visit.
The home was all rather chaotic. They had a fair on somewhere though I couldn't find it, very few staff on duty and several of us got sent round the houses twice trying to get out of the building.
I'm having a bit of a dilemma. I'm not sure I'm totally happy with the care mum is getting. She looks fairly clean and well cared for, but they are taking the line of least resistance, keeping her in bed most of the day as she can be difficult in company. Although it is the weekend and I know staffing levels are poor then, I was worried by the lack of staff and and the chaos. The home is the only one in the area that I can walk to, all the others are further, I'm not insured to drive our car and the bus service round here isn't that frequent. I am considering looking at a home about twenty minutes away by bus, but would it be any better. Mum is obviously in the later stages of dementia, but as today showed I don't think she is at the end of stage by some way, unlike my mother in law, but that's another story.