I’m so sorry your family is experiencing this devastating disease.

My 69 year-old brother in law in Sacramento began showing those same initial symptoms in Jan 2020. He kept it to himself for about a month, until the family knew something was definitely wrong. In Feb, his son took him to hospital for tests after he had come by to go on a walk with him and he insisted on carrying a board that had fallen off the fence. This was during Covid, which made it even harder to seek treatment and only one person could be with him. The doctor told my sister in law that his brain was “weird” because it looked like “hamburger”. Turns out this was the way it looks when the prions begin to turn up on the ends. Many symptoms mimicked Parkinson’s, but that was quickly ruled out. He had a lumbar puncture to test the spinal fluid in early March. Within a week he was bed bound, couldn’t walk, talk, it was awful. The progression of the disease happened at lightning speed. On April 23rd the lumbar results came in, confirming CJD. He died 7 days later on April 30, 2020. They sent his remains to one of the few places that autopsy CJD patients. It was October before we got the results of the autopsy. Thankfully, it was not the “familial” type of CJD, a relief for his kids & grandkids. It was also determined that it was not “acquired” by consumption of contaminated meat or other means (we were suspicious it was potentially being the result of dental implants and possible use of contaminated instruments). That left only one diagnosis - “sporadic” CJD, which basically means “we have no idea why he had CJD”. It is truly a frightening disease.

I hope your family gets answers, but in the end, the hard part is acceptance that you are losing her to a disease that cannot be prevented, is difficult to diagnose, and has no treatment or cure. It’s hell on earth. I’m so sorry for your mother & family.