Yeah... there was a documentary made about him 20 years ago. I can't even imagine being conscious for 20 years without remembering anything that happened.

Or it's like the best dog you could ever want.

@jack dalton: you can't imagine it because it's axiomatically nonsensical

As to your first point, that's a dumb interpretation.

As to your joke, you fucked it up - it goes "You have cancer and Alzheimer's." It makes no sense that he'd forget the second thing told to him but not the first.

The weird thing is how every moment, he thinks he has just woken up and has his memory back. He keeps huge journals where every few minutes he writes the time and "I am finally awake", crosses it out and writes it again, etc.

It's neat to see that he was really in love with his wife when it happened, and always will be.

He can still play the piano because the virus didn't affect his procedural memory and so I wonder to what degree, if any, his affection is mechanical. If an enduring feeling were the reason then I think it's strange that he should remember this woman, his second wife to whom he was married a year, and no one else, not even his children. But then he seems so sincerely happy when he sees her that I don't like to call it anything less than love.

It's so interesting what happens when the brain gets fucked up.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's a standard part of exercising his memory and noting improvement or decline.

The real tragedy is that although this particular condition is rare, its not too different that what happens with severe Alzheimers.