My sister had a detached retina last year. The day she was diagnosed, they performed a procedure on her eye that works about 80 percent of the time. It involved freezing parts of her eye. She had to lie in bed for about a week afterwards, flat on her back or on her side to keep pressure off the eye. She wasn't even allowed to get up to get her own meals or anything (my sisters and I would go over her house, and we also arranged for her neighbor to help out).
The procedure didn't work for her, so she had to have surgery on the eye the following week. She had a patch on her eye for serveral weeks, and if she took the patch off, she only had about a 10% field of vision for a while. She had to stay in bed for another week or two while it started to heal. She was out of work for a month. Again, we made arrangements for her to have lunch made by someone.
As for your trip, I'd say wait until after your mom's appointment to make a decision. See how they decide to treat it. If your mom requires surgery, she is going to need a lot of help for a while. Is there someone around who will be able to help her? I'm sure your mom doesn't want you to cancel your trip.
I hope that it goes well for your mom.
Karen