Word: nan
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...sisters remember the eczema. "I'd wake up in the middle of the night and hear her scratching herself with a comb or brush," says Nan. "I don't think she ever slept the night through." When Sue was 12, a malignant tumor appeared on her forehead; doctors were able to remove it, but more than 10 operations were needed to rebuild her eyebrow and part of her eyelid. "I just remember, she always had a big bandage around her head," says Mary...
...malady she was spared was self-pity. Sue held her own at jacks and hide- and-seek, and later sneaked Viceroys with Nan behind the drugstore instead of going to Mass. She was the one with the sense of humor, memorizing the candy-on-a-speeded-up-conveyor-belt episode from I Love Lucy; the one who was tone-deaf but couldn't care less, belting out Cross Over the Bridge, the Patti Page rouser, at top volume...
...Nan is the most supportive of the idea of assisted suicide: "The medical profession has just gotten to where they can keep you alive forever, but they don't know what to do with you." The others, at first, are more reserved, simply affirming that they will honor Sue's judgment. Les says he didn't originally agree, but "if she wanted me to stand on my head and jump off some of the buildings . . . I'd do it." A little while later, he begins...
...think she was "ready." But by the third videotaping session, in early May 1992, her condition has declined even further, and matters turn starkly practical. Sue tries on the medical anesthesia mask through which the carbon monoxide will flow. She has difficulty pulling it over her head, and Nan notes that it will take some practice. Suddenly, Kevorkian brings up a broader question: If Sue and Les, who live on Social Security and disability payments, were able to afford better care, would she change her mind about dying...
...Nan: We've all said if she won the lottery, if she had 24-hour nursing...