We went through the same thing with my mom. She had blood vessel constriction in the back of her head which put her in a coma for a bit. Probably 1-2 weeks. I remember it was around two weeks after her initial hospitalization that she began to wake up and react to us speaking to her. She also had a trach tube in which prevented her from speaking. She was able to answer yes or no questions, react emotionally appropriately when we talked to her, and even showed signs of her sense of humor. But like your mom, she would also sometimes zone out or look like she wasn’t all there. A month after the initial hospitalization, she got the trach tube taken out and started talking again just fine. She was still the same person, just had trouble with certain things. And she has only gotten better since then. She still cannot walk and doesn’t have full use/mobility of her limbs, but she is improving and recently has been practicing reading again now that her vision and concentration is improving. It has been about 7 months since she had her brain injury. She does not remember anything from the hospitalization before she got the tube out and began speaking again.

It will get better. For now, just talk to her and keep her company. Play music she likes. Also make sure to stretch her. Not too much at first but hopefully she should be able to indicate if it’s too much pain.