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

Monday, July 6, 2009

Nope, Lauren is not coming home tonight. Her kidney test came back and they are fine, but her ANC (blood) test came back and they have dropped to around 690, which means she is neutropenic, meaning her white blood count is down. They think it's due to a combination of being sick and from her latest round of chemo she got last week. What a Bummer!! We all think she just needs a good night sleep, but that's hard to get at a hospital since they're always waking her to take vitals and she continues to cough a lot and that keeps her awake and it also makes her gag and throw up.

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