Symptoms and Side Effects
Jeanne Lee
Reportedly, Greg suffered retrograde and anterograde amnesia: he struggled to remember some events prior to the removal of the tumor, and he was unable to form new, independent memories. Furthermore, he was found to mentally “idle” when not actively centering his focus on activities such as engaging in conversations, in which he was not asleep, but also did not seem to be completely attentive or markedly conscious, either — characteristic of his lack of spontaneity (55).
Though Greg was apparently unfazed by the deleterious growth, his family and peers found that he had changed into a completely different individual. His parents were shocked to find that, after four years of not having seen their son, he had transformed into a shell of his former self: his father claimed that Greg was no longer able to express “deep emotion of any kind” and described his son as “scooped out,” like he was “hollow inside” (44). His peers in the Krishna temple, however, believed that Greg had reached an astonishing degree of spiritual enlightenment, going so far as to aspire to achieve a similar attitude and detachment from the material world - a demonstration of the cultural significance also present in his unique illness (44). The patient’s newfound aloof nature not only prevented him from engaging in activities on his own volition, but also left him living perpetually in the 1960’s, before the tumor began to manifest itself.
Another indubitably intriguing observation was, alongside his now abnormally easygoing personality, Greg was also totally oblivious to his mental illness. According to Dr. Sacks, the man was unaware even of his own blindness: as the physician held up objects for Greg to identify during examinations, the fellow would guess the doctor was "showing him a blue ball, a red pen" when in reality the objects were actually "a green comb and a fob watch" (46-49). Moreover, although he was "somewhat weak and spastic in all his limbs" and was aware that he was in a hospital, when asked about why he was being hospitalized, Greg would respond with answers like "Because I'm not intelligent" or "Because I took drugs in the past" (45, 48).
It goes without saying Greg F, however active, intelligent, and talented he was as a student and guitarist, could no longer take care of himself at length in his condition. Feeling no desire to eat, unable to remember statements for longer than a few minutes, and lacking the incentive to take initiative and perform daily tasks, he could no longer rely upon himself to live independently at length.
