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

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The weekend

We're at the Ronald McDonald House. So far this stay is much better than our previous stay here. This time we got a suite instead of a handicap room. The suite is very nice since it has a seperate bedroom and living area and most importantly, we have a bathtub, which the girls love. The only negative on this stay so far, since they have community refrigerators here, is that someone is stealing our push-ups (ice cream)!! Our box of push-ups is slowly disappearing. While we can think of worse things that could happen to us, it is a little annoying but kinda of funny. We're like, what the heck??

Lauren is very tired but she is doing well so far. No fevers and she hasn't had as many headaches. Maybe the reasons her headaches have lessened is because she is not at home and is not exposed to the mold and/or the flowers. She has to go into the hospital tomorrow for her blood test. We'll be watching her very closely for any signs of a fever. We all expect her to get them, any day now. Of course, there is a chance she won't, which would be nice.

On Saturaday, Me, Marissa and Granny went on the Tumor Walk and Angel Adventure in Huntington Beach. It was very nice day and it was great to see everyone on Team Hope and we appreciate your support. Team Hope came in 2nd place for the amount of money we raised. So everyone that supported Team Hope, Thank You!

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