We just received a NEGATIVE RT-PCR COVID 19 test result today! To say that it was a great relief is saying it mildly.
Why did we need the test?
Last week a household help applicant was referred to us by a reliable person after our two maids of more than a year suddenly went home.
Our part time driver fetched the applicant at the village gate around noon and at 2:30, she underwent the RT-PCR COVID Test here in our premises. Imagine our anxiety to have her here when her test came back positive the next morning!
She beg to go home but my husband felt that we should follow the protocol to report this to our Barangay office. She was picked up and brought to a quarantine facility on same day.
Wait! How about us? We are now tagged to have been "exposed" even though she stayed in the maid\"s quarters which is detached from our house. For the entire 24 hours she was in the premises, she was wearing a mask.
I was so worried and scared, I immediately started the 9-hour prayer to The Infant Jesus of Prague for protection, the prayer I resort to for serious circumstances such as this.
"Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you". So I "knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted".
Thereafter, everyday, every hour, on the hour, my cell phone alerted me to say the prayer while I worked around the house. Ive been so worried, sometimes I even panicked. I also cried thinking about the possibility of getting sick and being isolated from my family indefinitely. I thought of lost time being with them because I felt I don\"t have much at my age.
Nonetheless, I willed a positive thought that I will be spared. I embraced with patience every little inconvenience hoping that they will help give me.good health. I offered all my worries and fears to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Upon waking up every morning at 3 or 4, I start my hourly novena and say the rosary as many times as I can.
My husband kept checking our temperature. I couldn\"t sleep some nights. There were times that I didn\"t feel like eating but I ate just the same so that my husband won\"t think that I lost my sense of taste; mid-week I had upset stomach but I did not tell my husband, he may think I developed symptoms.
But first things first. We consigned a private agency to disinfect and sanitize the premises. They were thorough, they sanitized the ceiling, walls and floor and after spraying disinfectant, they wiped everything, literally everything. From the maid\"s room, I had them take away all items: two mattresses, bed covers and sheets, pillows and cosmetics leaving only a pail and dipper in the connecting bathroom and the bed and a stool thoroughly sanitized.
After a week of home quarantine, we didn\"t experience any symptoms. Our Doctor, felt that we do not need to undergo the COVID test after learning the circumstances. "If you like, for your own peace of mind, it is okay to be tested", he said.
However we felt we needed proof that we are "clean". After consultation with our Doctor as well as my friend who is an experienced nurse and our children, we chose the drive thru RT-PCR TEST at the Asian hospital, it proved to be the safest due to minimal exposure.
Some say that the swab is painful but I found the procedure irritating and only lasted a few seconds. To me I was prepared to suffer any pain, if only I could be spared of the virus.
We should be celebrating after getting the negative result, but to me it didn\"t feel right. It was enough that we are free of the virus. As I think of the families who lost their loved ones as well as all those fighting for their lives right now due to COVID 19, I feel that we are so blessed of being spared.
I pledged that I will do nine days of the 9-hour prayer to The Infant Jesus of Prague. For the remaining two days, I will continue to ask for continued protection and thank The Lord for keeping us safe.
Lesson learned: I won\"t get a household help until this pandemic is over. I\"ll wait for the vaccine or the time when this virus will disappear, whichever will come first.
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