The Nihei's: Our Story

On April 1, 2008, our 4-year-old daughter, Lauren, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After her biopsy on April 8th it was determined that she had a bithalamic anaplastic astrocytoma with extension into her brain stem.

In the beginning of March we noticed a personality change in Lauren who normally is a very outgoing and happy-go-lucky kid. She became very clingy and shy. She didn't want to talk on the phone anymore, or play on the slide with the other kids at pre-school. By mid-March, Lauren started complaining about headaches. Her pediatrician thought it might be a sinus infection or that she may need glasses. He put her on antibiotics and we made an eye appointment.

A few days later when she started holding her head funny and her headaches returned we insisted on a CT scan. That's when her pediatrician sent us to the ER at Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) for a CT scan, and when our world was turned upside down and our nightmare began...

Story continues at bottom of page

Monday, September 29, 2008

Lauren had her 1st eye appointment today, where she received a wee bit of bad news. The optometrist (not the optom-oncologist, we're still on the wait list at CHLA!) told her she does not need glasses yet. Lauren actually wants to wear glasses!!... since her mom, dad, both grand parents, all her uncles and aunties all have glasses and/or contacts. Hopefully Lauren has my eye sight (I didn’t need glasses until college) and not Hilary's, who is blind as a bat. The optometrist did confirm that Lauren's right eye is slightly out of alignment. He recommends that she wear an eye patch a few times a day to strengthen it.

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