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

Friday, January 30, 2009

Lauren started her physical therapy yesterday at CHOC. In her evaluation, they had her walk up and down stairs, do some broad jumps and had her jump off the first step. Unfortunately, when she jumped off the step, her leg must have buckled and she fell hard on her back (don't even get me started on why they had her jumping off steps already!). This caused a reaction in her that Hilary says she never seen before. She thought Lauren was having a seizure. Hil said she has never been so scared in her life. So everybody was a little traumatized. Lauren seemed okay when she got home. She told me I needed to make her a warm pack and to give her a massage. I think the plan is for her to go to PT twice a week for 3 months. But we still need to get authorization from our insurance before we start.

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