Bad JuJu Unleashed

There are few superstitions we have in our family. One- we don't open umbrellas in our house. Two- we never say the name of an unwelcome visitor, because as soon as the person's name is spoken, he/she shows up at the door (Beatle Juice! Beatle Juice! Beatle Juice!). Three- and most importantly... we never talk about how long it has been since anyone of us has had to visit the emergency room.

Now lets flash back to last Sunday.
Remember this post when I mentioned that everyone was home for a family dinner? Well, that's when all the bad JuJu was released. We were all chatting about scars we had gotten and from what, when my oldest daughter blurted out...
"Hey, it's been a while since one of us had to go to the hospital!"

As soon as it was out of her mouth, all eyes turned to her and there was silence followed by a furious knocking three times on the wooden table (that would have been me). My son said something like "Ooooo, now you've done it!" and we all quickly changed the subject to something more pleasant.

Ok. I know some of you are thinking...
"Silly girl! There is no such thing as bad JuJu, karma, jinxed, or being cursed". But I tell you - it's true, we are cursed with bad luck whenever anyone of us talks about how long it's been since we've been to the hospital. On many occasions that our conversation turned toward ER visits or injuries, within the week someone ends up hurt or sick and has to be rushed to the ER. We're cursed I tell ya! CURSED! (hehe)

Monday the boy is feeling a little under the weather; nothing major, a little pain in his belly and some nausea. Tuesday he was worse; vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and abdominal cramps. Tuesday evening I found him curled up into a ball collapsed beside the bathroom floor. At this point, hubby and I are thinking food poisoning or appendicitis so we get him up and dressed and head into the ER. The triage paramedics take his blood pressure (80/50), low blood sugar, temperature and rush him back into a bed where a nurse immediately comes in and puts an IV into his arm and starts IV fluids and anti-nausea meds. They take blood, and urine samples, x-rays and shortly a doc comes in poking and prodding, asking lots of question, and tells us he will be back in after the all the tests come back. A couple bags of IV fluids (4 hours) later he comes back and tells us everything came back good; his x-ray looks fine, urine is good and blood work all ok except for an elevated white count, but that could be because he is battling a little infection. He tells the boy it's a bug and he will start to feel better now that he's hydrated and rested. Wednesday comes and the boy is worse so it's back to the ER where the exact same procedure is followed. BP (too low), blood sugar (too low), IV fluids, pain meds, blood work then sent home with assurance that this is a bug and he will be feeling a lot better now. Thursday morning he so weak and is having severe muscle cramping from dehydration. Hubby and I pack the boy into the car and head back down to the ER. They take him in right away but this time place him in an isolation room (at this point I've got H1N1 virus running through my head). They give him more IV fluids, take blood, x-ray, urine and again all comes back fine - we are told flu or possible food poisoning. Today (Friday), the boy is feeling a little bit better but still can't keep any food down but is able to keep hydrated by eating ice chips and sipping ice water. I suspect he will be up and around in a day or two (hopefully).

Goodness! This was one BAD BUG that took up residence inside him and all thanks to the bad JuJu my daughter unleashed as she spoke the unspeakable on Sunday.

I'm looking for some ideas and tips for warding off the BAD JuJu the next time someone slips up and speaks the unspeakable... A dance, chant or talisman (hehe)?