Thanks everyone who has expressed concern about my brother. So far there's been no diagnosis or improvement in his total retrograde amnesia. He still has his genius IQ and quick wit, but everyone is a complete stranger to him. Nobody knows what we can do, all I could think of was to bring him some gluten-free brownies yesterday, since the hospital selection of gluten-free food is atrocious. He liked the brownies.

Then we went to Biaggi's with my parents, and they got some take out dinner for him and his wife. That's a great Italian restaurant with a Gluten Free menu. It was a nice break in the day, and so refreshing to be able to order pasta and other food without worrying about getting sick from it.

Today is hard because I've gotten past my wonder and curiousity about it...it's not something you'd expect to happen to anybody you know. Now I'm just very sad and worried about it. It's been 4 days now with no real progress.

He and I weren't really close, for no real reason, there just was a lot of space there, a big difference in age and chaos tolerance, I guess you could say. He's more outgoing and has more chaos tolerance than I do, my life is pretty calm and boring compared to his. He has more pets, more kids, more work, more hobbies, more stuff, etc. Now he doesn't remember any of it, and I'm afraid it may all be quite overwhelming for him for a while.

On the other hand, I've always felt a kinship and familiarity with him. Of all my 5 siblings, he's the one I look most like (other than hair color and the usual gender differences). He and I both look a lot like my maternal grandmother, who I never knew but have always missed. He and I are so far the only gluten-free siblings, and he's a great cook, so I've been looking forward to the next family holiday with him. He's been a great and fun big brother, when we were young he was always the one to try to get his little sisters to eat bugs, and take pictures of them when their diapers sag or they have runny noses.

He has always been a very integral part of every aspect of his family life, involved in everyone and everything, so this is one of the hardest things that could ever happen to them as a family.

So, we're just hoping for a diagnosis and praying for a breakthrough. Hopefully I'll have some good news to report soon.