What's Going On?
Andrew Engel was completely confused. Just days into his freshman year at Rutgers University, he was sitting in Sociology 101, listening to other students chime into a discussion. He had no idea what they were talking about. He had done his homework, paid attention to lectures and taken notes, but nothing was familiar. Everyone is so much smarter than I am, he thought. It was a foreign feeling, as he'd always been a good student and had graduated high school with a 3.9 GPA.
The rest of his day progressed like an episode of The Twilight Zone. He got lost, again, on his way to the cafeteria, even though he'd been there a few hours earlier. Back at his dorm, he greeted his roommate with a "Hi, how's it going?" all the while thinking, What the heck is his name again?
He was acting like a person with Alzheimer's disease -- but he was only 17. By the end of September, he'd dropped a class and was studying with a tutor, yet he was still struggling. He decided he had no choice but to drop out, telling his bewildered parents he wasn't cut out for college.
Andrew had long wanted to get a degree and work in health care, and was crushed that his dream had been derailed. He was also distraught about being separated for the first time from his identical twin brother, Jason, also a student at Rutgers. He cried for most of the long ride to his parents' house in Maryland.
They thought it was anxiety and took Andrew to see a psychiatrist. The doctor couldn't pinpoint a cause and blamed stress. But Andrew continued to act strangely and had trouble finding the right words when speaking. He asked, "What's for dinner?" after he'd just eaten. He got disoriented driving the streets he knew so well and, while running errands, forgot why he was out. "It was weird. I'd never had health problems before," Andrew says. "I felt it had to be psychological. That I was overwhelmed and it was clouding my mind."
Andrew's mother grew increasingly concerned about his unusual behavior, and when he started to show physical symptoms, including an unquenchable thirst and frequent urination, she hustled him off to the doctor. A brain scan made it clear: Andrew had a malignant brain tumor. The size of a peach pit, it was pressing on the part of the brain that makes new memories and could be fatal if left untreated. Andrew was scared, but he was relieved that there was a reason for his odd behavior.
"He basically had amnesia," says Andrew's neuropsychologist, David Schretlen, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. "This is the kind of memory that people lose as they get older, especially Alzheimer's patients."
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译文:
我会记得的【读者文摘】-----Gretchen版
一个不同寻常的故事，关于记忆的失去和找回。
怎么了？发生什么了？
安德鲁英吉完全被搞糊涂了。那是他刚进罗特格斯大学的那些日子，他坐在社会学大楼的101教师，听着其他同学和谐有序的讨论。人家讲的他都不明白。他做完了作业，参加了一个演讲并且做了笔记，但是一切都显得那么陌生。他想，每个人都比我聪明。有种不属于这里的感觉，就好像他一直是好学生，以3.9的绩点从学校毕业。
他接下来的日子过得像从贫民窟里出来的那样。在他去咖啡馆的时候，又迷路了，尽管他几小时前刚去过。回到寝室，他边想着事情边和室友打招呼“嘿，怎么样？”什么时候开始，困扰成了他的名字？
他的行为就像一个阿兹海默症患者，但是他只有17岁啊。9月底，他逃课找了个家教学习，他依然很努力。他觉得自己别无选择只能不去上课，在大惑不解的父母面前，声称没有停止学业。
安德鲁长久以来就想得到一个学位，和一份关于健康护理的工作。梦想偏离了轨道使得他心碎不已。对那个从一出生就和他分离的孪生兄弟杰森，他也显得心神不宁。杰森也是罗特斯特大学的学生，他急需远在千里之外马里兰州的父母。
父母很焦虑带着安德鲁去看精神病专家，医生也无法准确指出病因和他自责的压力。但是安德鲁每天仍然举止怪异，讲话的时候颠三倒四。刚吃完饭，他问晚饭吃什么。对他熟悉的街道，他也会开车迷路，而且帮人跑腿时，忘记为什么出来了。“太奇怪了，我以前从来没有健康方面的问题”他说“我感觉这是心理问题，我压抑自己，而这使我情绪低迷”
安德鲁的母亲越发担心他的不正常的行为，当他开始有身体上的症状时，包括不可抑制的口渴和频繁的上厕所，母亲催促他去看医生。对脑部的仔细检查才让一切明了：安德鲁的脑子有恶性肿瘤，大小像桃子核，长在脑子的某个地方，有自己的记忆。如果放任不治疗，后果将是致命的。安德鲁被吓了一跳，但是知道了行为怪异的原因，他又轻松了点。
“他基本是得了遗忘症”安德鲁的神经心理专家，巴尔的摩的约翰霍普金斯医院的大卫医生说，“这是一种人们长大了就会遗忘的记忆，尤其是阿兹海默症患者”。