This post could be pages long, and would have been had I tried to write it months ago, but thankfully I'm able to write this now knowing James is ok. Long story short, James got some routine vaccines at 13 months old, then got really sick with a virus (I was shaken up with this illness because it seemed very bad), and THEN after he recovered from the virus he started breaking out in hives. We didn't know why this was happening and for several weeks, we couldn't control them. Finally, we were able to stop the hives, but only if we kept James on daily medications/sedating antihistamines...when I tried to stop the meds, the hives would come back. After hitting the 6 week mark, we were diagnosed with "Chronic Hives". I was so sad and scared of all the unknowns. None of the tests we ran showed any clue as to why this was happening, so the doctors (pediatrician, dermatologist, and allergist) assumed it was an immune system over-reaction, likely to the recent virus. I was terrified that the hives would never go away, but they eventually did! It was a total of 3 months, but it felt like 3 years! Myself and others prayed so boldly that God would heal James, and we've been overjoyed by this answered prayer.
Most of these pictures were taken so I could show the doctors the change/progression in the hives, which proved to be helpful in the diagnosis. At one point, they thought it could be something extremely serious and life-threatening, but a glance at pictures taken 12 hours apart gave the dermatologist enough info to say it was definitely hives and nothing worse....WOW! Thank you iphone!
it started with just some some patches of hives
one morning his whole eye was a swollen hive
spreading
covered!
When the hives would fade away, his skin would become smooth again, but would temporarily turn a creepy purple color--called post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation.
