Isaac Asimov (post 2): End of Life Manifestation of Multiple Personality?

In her epilogue to his memoir, Isaac Asimov’s wife recalls “an incident from Isaac’s last week at home [he was dying of heart disease and terminal kidney failure]. Isaac couldn’t talk much, and was asleep most of the time, but once he woke up looking terribly anxious. He said to me:

“I want…I want…”

“What is it, Isaac?” I asked.

“I want…I want…”

“What do you want, darling?”

It seemed to burst out of him. “I want—Isaac Asimov!”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s you.”

Then he said wonderingly, and with triumph, “I AM Isaac Asimov!” (1, pp. 561-562).

Was this his poignant wish to be healthy and full-functioning again? Or was this one of his unnamed personalities asking for his regular, named personality, and then the regular personality’s surprised, but triumphant response?

1. Isaac Asimov. I. Asimov: A Memoir. New York, Bantam/Doubleday, 1994.