How, what, do you answer when the DH asked where his Mother is, when she has been dead for almost 40 years? I need to be prepared to answer this because he asked this again today, and I'm afraid I just stuttered.
DH is in a "Memory Decline" floor in the nursing home. Most of the time he sleeps. Today several aides came to me to say: He has been awake all morning! He ate all his lunch, and made sense part of the time. Wonder how long this improvement will last. I live in the same retirement home and visit him every day around lunch time for 2 or 3 hours.
How wonderful that your husband had such a great day! I hope the improvements last a good long time for you both.
As for the question about what to do when your DH asks for him Mother.... the kindest thing is to lie. We call them fiblets here. Tell him she will be here later... things of that nature. If he keeps asking, distract him. When my Lynn could not be distracted I often times would call the house from my cell and pretend I was his Mom.... whatever we can do to calm them and bring them comfort.
There is a thread about this you might find helpful http://thealzheimerspouse.com/vanillaforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=776
My husband talks about his Mom every day (she's been gone 15 yrs). I cheerfully tell him I just spoke to her, she is fine. Sometimes I offer to call her for him and he is happy. I answer the same way when he asks about his wife. I always say she is out shopping, spending all his money! He knows I am joking, and says seriously, "she wouldn't do that". I try to keep it light--believe it or not, you can have fun with it. To me, this is nothing when compared with behavior problems.
Jeff's memory is not SO impaired, since his deficits are stronger in the visual PCA areas, but he can be very disoriented, and one night I woke to hear him seriously crying by the bed because he'd gotten the idea that his dad had died. (Which in fact he had, 15 years ago.) Even though I knew Jeff would be aware, by morning, that his dad was long dead, it was not something I wanted to try to orient him to at 3am. I think I just said something like "don't worry about that, we'll talk about that kind of stuff in the morning." Or something. Which seemed to work.