For the first time in my life, I sleep well for nights at a time. I don’t remember my dreams anymore, which used to wake me up in the middle of the night or leave me feeling tired the next day. My insomnia started in childhood along with the vivid dreams. Mental fatigue, however, proves to be more powerful than my creative subconscious. I’ve never felt more rested and more exhausted at the same time.

Adrienne, the first summer she lived in Los Angeles © 1995

Better Off Bald chronicles my sister Adrienne’s 147-day battle with liver cancer; the book also shows how I reared Adrienne from the time she was eight until she died at the age of fifteen. For more information about primary liver cancer, go to Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association.