Long 4-day weekend. Everybody was off Tuesday for Veteran's day, right? I decided to take Monday off and take the family to Disneyland and spend some QT time with the family before Lauren starts her next round of chemo on Friday. Unfortunately, everybody else in So. Cal had the same idea. I've never seen it so crowded. But fortunately, Lauren qualifies for a special assistant pass at Disneyland, which allows us to cut most of the lines. I use to feel a little guilty about taking advantage of this, but life has dealt her such a bad hand that she deserves a special advantage. I don't know if both me and Hilary were more sensitive than normal, but it seems more kids and parents at Disneyland were staring and making comments about Lauren's appearance than normal. I'm not sure if Lauren was aware of it or not, probably not most of the time, except one time while waiting in line, a little girl, maybe 8, looked at Lauren and said, "I have hair. My mom has hair. My dad has hair." I replied (which was very different than what I wanted to say), "it's only temporary, right Lauren?" Lauren, "yes, it will grow back." I wish the girl's mom would have done more to help out, but she, probably like me, didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and just keep it matter of fact. This was one of the reasons why, while eating lunch, when a stranger came up to us and asked us if Lauren was here at Disneyland for make-a-wish visit, that both of us were a little defensive and on edge. And when he called Lauren over, we both sat-up, ready to pounce, since we didn’t know what his intention were. When Lauren came over, he pulled from behind his back a brand new, Snow White dress and gave it to Lauren. My friend Bill, who was with us, said that was the nicest thing he's ever seen. People are amazing.

During Lauren's journey, we've come to know and meet some incredible and generous people. Both friends and strangers have taken upon themselves to start fundraisers for her, send gifts and cards from all over the country, leave gifts anonymously at our door steps (we found a cross and both a Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty collector's doll, which are now sitting on Lauren's doll shelf), and we've been told there are prayer groups all over the world praying for Lauren (there are even U.S. soldiers in Iraq praying for Lauren). I'm just amazed and humbled by the support and generosity of people. Thank you.

Also,

We went to see Madagascar II, on Saturday. A friend was able to get us passes to a special screening at the DreamWorks Campus. Great movie, both the girls and parents loved it. And what an awesome campus DreamWorks has. Ping pong and fooseball tables everywhere, koi pond and streams, Starbucks, huge bell tower. It was like being at a resort. What a nice place to work.

Speaking of work, to add to our year, Hilary was fired this week. She worked for the mortgage department of Wells Fargo, and obviously the mortgage industry is not doing very well right now. WFB informed her they are not down-sizing, but "right-sizing." But then again, she hasn't been there for 6-months and it would have been hard for her to go back to work anytime in the near future. So what can you do?

The mold remediation is complete. All the mold is gone, and the family is back together again in the house. It took a lot of coaxing to get Lauren to leave her grandparents. She didn't want to leave her dog (we hadn't even told her we gave her cat Minnie away to her friend's Hannah and Hailey). But it is nice for the family to be back together (the Nihei girls including mom stayed at granny's while dad stayed at the mold-infested house). We spent all day on Sunday wiping down all the walls, furniture, lighting, and frames in the rest of the house. I changed the air filters from the A/C and Heating intake vents (I found out they need to be changed every three months, not every three years), and we vacuumed the carpet with our new special double HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner from Sears (Consumer Report ranked it #1 best buy, I'm turning more and more into my dad every day). We now just have to finish washing all of our clothes, currently in huge mountain of garbage bags sitting in the garage. Oh, and I need to learn how to put new subflooring, drywall, and tile in the bathroom, since there is a big hole in the floor and wall and no flooring.

Lauren had to go to the emergency room yesterday (Tuesday). Her left cheek became bright red and puffy. My first thought was it's the mold. But I think she might have been bitten by a spider or a mosquito. It seems okay now. Since she is an oncology/chemo patient and her immune system is depleted, we can't take any chances. The Doc prescribed antibiotics and she was released. It was cute that in the emergency room, where they probably don’t access a lot of ports, Lauren had to take it upon herself to instruct the nurse how to access her port. The nurse asked her if she could lie down so that she could get a blood sample from her port. Lauren said, "No," since she the nurses in the day hospital and on the oncology floor always access it while she sits up. She then had to remind the nurse to clean the site with alcohol. It good see Lauren being assertive.

While leaving CHLA, Hilary and the kids stopped by McDonald's for some food. A man in line asked Hil what's happened to Lauren's hair and what's wrong with her. Hil was a little taken back at first, but she could tell he was very distraught. He told Hil that his 10-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Hil thinks he just found out and that it was so recent that he hadn't even talked to the neurosurgeon or oncology yet. These encounters always brings us back to the time when we discovered Lauren's tumor and how scared, helpless and hopeless we felt. While it's hard to talk and say too much in front of Lauren since she is always listening, Hil tried to tell him that no matter how hopeless it seems, to not give up hope and do not let them ever take your hope away. He said, seeing and talking to Lauren gave him hope. Hil gave him her # and Lauren's website. Hopefully, he'll see how hopeless Lauren's situation was and how well she is doing now. And if you are reading this, don't give up hope and you're already at the best hospital, but always get 2nd and 3rd opinions or as many as you can. The more informed you are the better. Never give up. And feel free to call us anytime. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your daughter.

Lauren's MRI is tomorrow. This is the most important one yet. Of course, every MRI at the time will be the most important one. This one however, will confirm the tumor is dead or just about dead. I forgot what it's called but they can tell from the chemicals being released from and around the tumor if it's dead or dying. We'll meet with Dr. Finlay afterwards to discuss the results. This will be the first time we meet with Dr. Finlay right an MRI, usually we have to sweat it out for a few days until Dr. Finlay can review it. It's nail biting time.