Forgetful Husband or Convenient Amnesia

The seventy-six-year old Richard had been happily married to the fifty-nine-year old Maggie for twenty-eight years. They worked the Saturday of Labor Day weekend 2009, but then decided to have a little fun on Sunday.

They had a lovely day together. They attended church and went out for breakfast afterwards. They picked out a movie, "All About Steve," and laughed uproariously all the way through it. Richard drove them home after the movie, and then they jumped into their swimming pool for a little sun time. Richard floated around on his floater and snoozed while Maggie sunbathed in the privacy of their backyard.

It came time to walk and feed the dogs, which Richard graciously offered to do for Maggie. In the meantime, she drove to the grocery store to buy chicken and steaks for an evening barbeque. When she arrived at home, Richard had finished feeding the dogs. She said cheerily, "I have the meat for the barbeque, Honey," and smiled sweetly at him. She took out the pan and placed all the chicken and steaks in it, and handed it to Richard, the master barbeque expert at their home.

Richard gazed quizzically at the pan filled with chicken and steaks, and asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Maggie thought perhaps she had assumed a little too much, and answered patiently, "Do you mind getting the barbeque started?"

"Where is it?" he asked her.

She stared at him and realized that he was completely serious. She kept calm and suggested, "Let's sit down at the breakfast table, sweetheart." He complied and sat down. She asked him, "Richard, what year is it?"

He answered with conviction and a frown, "2004, of course."

She frowned now, too. "Who is the President of the United States?"

He replied quickly, "Bush."

Her heart started to race, "Who am I, Richard?"

"You're Marilyn Monroe," he answered with a smile. Indeed Maggie had been Marilyn Monroe for a costume party many years earlier.

She took the pan filled with meat, covered it, and deposited it in the refrigerator. She collected her keys, purse, and sunglasses, and said quietly, "We're going to the hospital." She took his hand and led him to her truck. He complied, climbed in, and buckled his seat belt.

For those of you who have seen the movie, "Fifty First Dates," you'll remember a character that they named "Ten Second Tom." Tom's memory only lasted ten seconds, and then it was gone. Richard had become "Thirty Second Richard."

Richard asked Maggie seriously, "Where are we going?"

She replied calmly and nicely, "We're going to the hospital?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you don't remember, and there might be something wrong," she replied and patted his hand.

He sat quietly, and then asked thirty seconds later, "Where are we going?"

She answered each time with patience and aplomb, but internally became quite concerned. They arrived at the Emergency Room, and she held his hand and walked him to check in. She said, "He's lost around the last five years. He doesn't remember." Maggie hadn't even checked him in when she was allowed access to the doctors. They went to work on him immediately. They changed him to wear a gown, took blood, put him on oxygen, took a Cat scan, arranged for an MRI, and captured a chest X-ray.

Richard inquired of Maggie, "Why am I here?"

She explained patiently, "Because you don't remember."

The doctors asked him each time they entered the room, "What year is it?"

Richard answered that it was "2005" one time, "2008" another time, and "2010" yet another time. Maggie realized that he was just guessing. His mind moved so quickly to adapt to his circumstances that he processed everything that was said to him in the hopes of finding a way out of the hospital. He insisted that he was okay and wanted them to release him.

He was so insistent that Maggie finally questioned him with a big question, "Did you know that your friend, John, died?"

"John died?" he said in horrific shock. "When did he die?" he asked with emotional upset.

"Last May," she replied gently. "You see, honey, you don't remember."

That line of questioning from Richard continued for several hours, and then he started fidgeting with everything around him in the hospital room. He asked the same questions repeatedly, "Where's my phone? Where's my wallet? Where' my handy knife?"

"I took them home for you, Richard, when I went to get fresh clothes for you," she answered.

"What happened to the clothes I had on?" he asked with a puzzled look.

"You had a little accident, honey," she replied and felt embarrassed for him.

"I peed in my pants?" He asked her incredulously.

"I'm afraid so, dear," she replied thoughtfully.

The night commenced with that particular line of questioning, and then morning arrived. The doctors ruled out transient ischemic attacks or mini-strokes, a heart attack, any chemical imbalances, or other aberrations. They concluded that her husband was in excellent physical condition, and there was no strong reason to keep him in the hospital. The couple prepared to go home. The internist greeted them before he left, and said, "It is transient global amnesia. There is a one in a hundred thousand chance that it will happen again in his lifetime. It almost never happens twice, so don't worry about it. It only lasts six to twenty-four hours."

The couple doesn't know what caused it, and probably never will, but thanked God for the testing of their faith and the blessing of restored health. Richard doesn't remember most of the twenty-four hours that he was in the hospital, or any of his Sunday. Those hours are gone from his memory forever.

Maggie commented to Richard later that afternoon, "Don't you think that it's odd that you didn't just lose little bits of randomly selected times in your life, but instead you lost one specific chronological time frame? God designed us so perfectly that even memory loss can be managed mercifully."

"Yes, Marilyn Monroe, dear, I agree." He winked at her and smiled. She'd never know if he really thought she was Marilyn Monroe or not, but it pleased her that he thought of her in that way.

"Thank you, dear Father, for the blessing of Richard," she whispered to her Maker.