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

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Lauren is doing really well. It's been three weeks since she had her last chemo treatment and is really feeling good (even though she has had minor headaches. She didn't have one headache when she was in the hospital, so we're pretty sure the headaches are mostly allergy related).

We know she is feeling good because:

-- We've caught her dancing by herself.
-- She is jabber mouth. Can't stop talking. Which is music to our ears.
-- She is social and a jabber mouth with other, non-family, grown-ups.
-- Yesterday we noticed she was skipping (which make us nervous, since the last time she tried skipping she ate it hard and scrapped her head).
-- She is playful and is affectionate to Marissa. Poor Marissa, Lauren hasn't been very affectionate since all of this started and Marissa really loves her big sister. So it was nice to see them last night playing together, laughing and hugging.

No comments: