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, October 27, 2008

Lauren is still in the hospital. We're all tired and cranky. Lauren ss not eating much and she has a few sores in her mouth that everyone is keeping an eye on. I just thought mouth sores were the result of the harshness of the chemo (like when you get canker sores when you eat too much pineapple). But the sores can be the result and indication of an infection in the mouth. Also, while her white blood cells have begun to creep up, her platelets and hemoglobin counts continue to drop, so we wouldn't be surprised if she needed another transfusion of platelets and blood today. She is still getting her GCSF shots to help her blood counts, hopefully it'll start taking effect and she'll be able to get out of the hospital soon, since she is scheduled to start her next and final round of chemo on Nov. 7th.

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