It's happening again

Just when I get adjusted to a level of mom's mental capacity there's a change, and it's never for the better.
In the last few weeks I've been told that she's had issues of confusion finding her room.  I now regularly get phone calls about her "missing male roommate"--not a male, and very much present.  Today, I got the strangest phone call--Mom left a message saying that she had gotten a haircut at "House Beautiful".  She wanted me to talk to her about meeting her and bringing her a hat.  The message was rambling and sometimes unintelligible, but she ended with her customary "I hope all is well with you." By the time I got home I was sure she had forgotten the call, so I didn't call her back.  But, the tone of her voice and the confusion within the message has haunted me the rest of the day.

AHHHH-- it's happening--she is reaching a new level or plateau in diminished mental ability.  The amazing thing is that with it all she can still remember my phone number-- I fear that it will be the last thing she forgets.