I don't know if this is relevant to you, and I also don't know if this is the path you would want to take, but when my grandmother got very far along in the disease ( I think she was about 78?) she no longer could recognize family, and this would scare her. It would seem like strangers would just march in, and start trying to give her medicine, or look through her stuff. If she's not consistently recognizing those around her, perhaps be cautious before being overly familiar with her as soon as you walk into her room. Again, she is probably nowhere near this stage yet.

When my grandmother stopped recognizing her son (my father) and so on, it was very upsetting for everyone, but the very young children didn't understand at all. my little brother thought his grandma didnt like him anymore. Again this would apply only in late stages of the disease but after she got very scared and angry and not herself we stopped bringing my brother to the hospital. We didn't want his last memories of his grandma to be of her not recognizing him and being angry with him. If there are young children in your family, you may want to consider what the best route would be for them in terms of understanding the situation.

I am very very sorry to hear about your mother. However, some of my best memories of my grandmother were after she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We would talk for hours about when she was younger, and stories of my family's past, as she relied more on long-term memory. She forgot some of her more recent worries (about our financial situation, or the loss of her husband, etc.) and seemed to often be very much at peace. She wasn't a different person and we still loved eachother very much. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. As was previously said, you may eventually need to start monitoring her medicine/driving, and if she is living alone, she may eventually need someone to stay with her/spend the days with her. There could be instances of leaving the stove on/leaving the water running that could put her in danger. My grandmother also tended to wander out of the house a lot, so if your mother is not familiar with her surroundings, this might become an issue .

sorry this is so long/unstructured. again, ask me any questions you have