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WASHINGTON — The man, called only “WO” by his physicians, woke up on on March 14, 2005, at his military post in Germany. He headed to the gym, where he played a 45-minute round of volleyball, then returned to his office to answer a backlog of emails.

In the afternoon he went to his dentist for a routine root canal.

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Every day since, WO wakes up thinking it’s the morning of March 14, 2005, believing he is still in Germany and this is the day of his dentist appointment. His life is something of a Groundhog Day in reverse.

From that moment in the dentist’s chair a decade ago, he hasn’t been able to remember almost anything for longer than 90 minutes. Then he forgets it, a switch flips, and he’s back to March 14, 2005.

The case, which WO’s doctors Gerald Burgess and Bhanu Chadalavada dissect in a study published in the journal Neurocase, is indeed a medical mystery.

The patient, a 38-year-old member of the British armed forces, had an unremarkable personal and medical background. He was a happy husband and father of two children, was in good standing at work, his only health complaints were back pain and hypertension.