I replied but couldn't find the response, so I'm posting here too, just in case. Sorry if this is a repeat.
I have had a similar experience, and I know what you mean about missing your goose. We struggled to be patient with her timeline, but I think it was worth it.
Lady Goo Goo laid her first egg on Valentine's day. A couple weeks later she went broody. Eventually she would lay a total of 11 eggs, but without a gander and no hope for goslings, we slyly collected all the eggs sometimes we would replace with ceramic eggs, sometimes not. I let her do her thing for a while and I missed her so much. After a couple months she had lost a lot of weight, was super territorial and grumpy with us. However, she always let my husband and I visit her in the nest. She even seemed relieved for the company and distraction. One day I realized she was filthy and I hadn't seen her bathe. So I cleaned the pool while she watched from the nest. We talked with one another the whole time. Then I put the ducks out of the coop and closed us in. Now it was just her and I, having some alone time. I sat on her empty nest and put her in my lap and started petting and cuddling like I had before the brooding. Soon she got up, but I stayed put, sitting on her nest as a surrogate. She took a full bath, preened properly, and ate a full meal. Then she came back to the nest and took over. We did this for a couple weeks, and sometimes I could coax her out of the coop, but she would become panicked if she moved too far away from the nest. Then one day, she spent most of the day out of the coop while I worked in the garden. I tried a couple times to bring her in the house but she panicked. After a couple weeks of this new dynamic, she asked to go in the house one evening for couch and bedtime cuddles. She's done this a few times now, but still not consistently. However, I'm now able to cuddle her and hold her lots outside. And I feel it's just a matter of time before she's back to being a "normal indoor goose". It has been harder to help her reestablish her relationship with my 13yr old and other regular visitors. She has nipped a couple times, something she didn't do before. But we have consistently helped people learn how to interact with her in this new phase. She's definitly more social than a month ago.
Little by little, I've dismantled the nesting area. I've used all of her nesting straw as bedding in the garden and she doesn't even build a nest anymore (much to my chagrin - now I'll have to tear apart the straw bales myself for the garden).
Last night she went back to the spot her nest used to be and wouldn't come in the house, despite my pleading and cajoling. Being a momma goose when you're a baby must be very confusing and scary. Being a goose's mother is such a sweet and charmed life.
