My mom, 73, is in the middle-late stages of dementia and lives in a care home (which she doesn't like). She's on both antidepressants and dopaquel to try to help with her moods - the drugs have shown some improvement day-to-day, but she still complains about her life in care. She has stage IV cancer (colorectal with liver metastases) and recently underwent 6 months of palliative chemo. From the outset, the doctors made it clear the chemo wasn't going to be curative. Even at the time (her dementia wasn't as bad, then), and despite clear explanations from the doctors, me etc. she believed she would be cured. Now, the chemo is at an end and the CT scan results are in - showing the disease is slowed, a little, but that the primary tumours are in fact at little larger than they were. My mother's oncologist wants to explain the progress and overall treatment situation to my mother, but I'm hesitant. We've also been using the line "You can leave here when the doctor says you can" (meaning the care home), so I think she's been holding out hope of recovery, so she can leave. Is it right to withold information about the reality of her disease from her? She can still talk fairly sensibly on good days. Or should we just defer/redirect or keep on delaying, saying the results aren't in yet and hope she forgets? Any advice very welcome!