Hives

Why is it that our kids get sick when we are about to leave for vacation? Last November, D'arcy was in the hospital the weekend before our Tennessee vacation with the croup which she inevitably passed on to Julian who got sick on vacation. This year, we were scheduled to leave for our Indiana/Rhode Island trip on Thursday. The Saturday before we left, D'arcy started having hives all over her body. Nothing serious, just persistent.
Long story short, after a week and a half of hives everyday, we took the advise of the Humana nurse and ended up in the ER on our vacation. They pretty much told us to continue giving her benadryl and see our pediatrician when we returned.
Now, almost five weeks later, bouts of hives are still showing up on her body every day, some days worse than others. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme and reason to them, except that they are usually worse around mid-morning and right before bed. They also flair up if she gets excited, angry, or really hot, and show up in areas of pressure like around her waistband. She doesn't scratch them much, and they don't last long (maybe a half hour).
As a mom, I'm learning how much I don't have control over (aka how much I have to rely on God to keep my children healthy). I'm also discovering how distinctly different D'arcy's skin is than mine. I guess I should have been clued in when she was born looking almost albino. She has persistent eczema, and now persistent hives. I really want to learn how to care for her skin better.
I've read a lot about hives over the last couple of days, and I've discovered that our next step is to go to an allergist. Eighty percent of the time, the allergist won't be able to pinpoint what is causing the outbreaks.
So...you can be in prayer that 1) These bouts go away on their own 2) That the allergist can find a cause 3) The cause is something easily removed from her environment/diet etc. Very occasionally, chronic hives can be a sign of a thyroid disorder or cancer. This is rare, but my hope is that her hives have nothing to do with either of these.
D'arcy is learning about faith through this, though. We have prayed for her at home and have taken her up after church to have her prayed for. I've been asking her before we pray if she has faith that God can heal her. And she says yes. She's been using that faith for other things too (see Fear Conquered by Faith post).