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, July 17, 2009

Lauren is looking and acting a lot better even though she needed some pain medicine last night. After 5 days of no food or water, she has now advanced to clear liquids (chicken broth), Gatorade, and jell-o. We are hoping to get out later today, but most likely Sat. or Sun. It is a good thing too, since everyone is running on fumes. All the girls (mommy included) had melt downs yesterday. Lauren didn't want granny to go, then she was bored, but didn't know what she wanted to do. Marissa didn't want to leave mommy and go home with daddy. And mommy didn't know how to get them all to stop crying. Good thing daddy had to go the bathroom just then.

No comments: