I have only a vague memory of joking around with the emergency medical technicians, although I may have imagined that. They rushed me to our community hospital , where the doctors put me in therapeutic hypothermia, which lowered my body temperature to around 90 degrees for a day or two, which can help preserve brain function. During this time, my wife told me she saw me shivering late into the night, unable to sleep and apparently suffering greatly.

I spent the month in the hospital, and although many people came hundreds of miles to see me, I don’t remember interacting with them. I don’t remember much about January at all.

The big change came at the end of the month, at a birthday party for my wife. When I came home from the hospital at that time, I didn’t recognize the new house we had moved into six months before this happened. I soon discovered that my once stalwart memory had degraded. I used to have a calendar-like recall of every year. If you had asked me what I’d done in February 2016, for example, I could give you a pretty detailed answer. I no longer had that kind of command.

I started thinking more clearly at the party. I remember being happy about being able to sleep at my new house. It took me a while to recognize my wife. For a while I had on-and-off thoughts that a strange woman had kidnapped me. I feel bad for her. It must be hard to see your spouse almost die and then return in that mental state.

As my memory began returning, I learned I had just turned 50 and was a freelance writer. I remembered some things, like working at my previous job, though I didn’t remember leaving it or really anything from 2018, 2017 or 2016. I don’t recall putting my dog down in 2017. When asked who the president was, I said “Obama.”