Lucas Tested Positive

My husband Lucas despite all the precautions: 1. Wearing double masks and face shield whenever going to our hardware store. 2. Wearing an air purifier neck piece. 3. Constantly washing hands with soap and water or alcohol. 4. Keeping his distance with people. 5. Having been vaccinated and getting his booster shot. Yet on January 16 of 2022, he began to cough frequently specially at night. At first I thought it was just a kind of habitually clearing of his throat, (He has this habit of clearing his throat often during the day or while he is inside the bathroom, or brushing his teeth.) but his coughing that Sunday night disturbed his sleep. When he woke up on Monday morning, he was feverish. I gave him Biogesic paracetamol and he felt better. He went down to open the store and had himself tested with rapid antigen test, he tested positive. I informed all my children about the results through Messenger. (We are all dispersed in different places). They gave me preliminary advices on how to take care of ourselves, like isolating him in the room, wearing masks at home and for me to use the adjacent room and toilet. Yes, I could sleep on the adjacent room, it has a connecting door. We could keep our masks on, but Lucas needed me to care for him during this difficult situation. As you may know, my husband is suffering from progressive Parkinson’s disease. He moves very slowly and I have to help him in many ways. “O God have mercy on him and have mercy on me.” 

My daughter Martha, that same Monday arranged for us a tele-consultation at 8 pm with her friend, a pulmonologist doctor. The doctor was very kind. He listened and he heard Lucas coughing. He gave us medical advices and prescribed medicines for me to buy on Tuesday. Cotabato City was running out of many paracetamol, cough and colds medicines. Luckily we were able to buy them. There was however this anti viral medicine called molnupiravir that was nowhere to be found. My son Tom however inquired and asked for help from many friends and sources and thankfully, he was able to make contacts. Raymond Tan temporarily loaned us a box of pills to be used and to be replaced when stock was available. Our stocks came all the way from Davao and Manila. From Davao was through the help of nephew Dominic Tan and Ian Co. From Manila, Tom got me molnupiravir also incase I get sick too. They came from my brother Wilson Ledesma in Manila. Thank you Lord God. His helping hand can be felt during these time of ordeal. Lucas got a little better after taking all the prescribed medicines. But covid can be treacherous. A person can be better one day, then get worse the next day, then get better again and worse again. We thought he was ok already on the fourth day but his cough got worse at night. I continued to viber message his pulmonologist. We got some allergy medicines too. I was thinking maybe it could be allergy since our house was so dusty because our neighbor the gasoline station was under construction. 

To add more problem to our trials, one of my maids left us few days after Lucas got sick. She left me at a time when I needed her most. But to tell you honestly, I forgave her from the bottom of my heart. This much I can do for being grateful to God for helping my husband and sparing me from this illness. 

Two weeks after Lucas coughing symptoms began, although he continued to cough at night, he went down to the store and got tested negative. I however continued to monitor his temperature and oximeter twice a day to make sure he had no fever and his oxygen level okay. At present he is back to work. He stopped taking his cough and colds and fever medicines but until today February 5, he still coughed a few times specially at night and once in awhile during the day. It could be allergies or habitual clearing of the throat and nose or whatever. 

I pray to God to bring him to full and complete and safe recovery. Blessed Mother, please pray for him. O God, have mercy on us and please put an end to this covid and all the variants very very soon. Have mercy O Lord, have mercy. Thank you Lord for keeping us out of harm and danger. Please bring my husband Lucas to full and complete and safe recovery from this illness. Thank you.

Late Posting, End of 2021 and Beginning of 2022

I just want to write down the important near normal events that God had so privileged my husband and I to have despite the pandemic. Relieving the events, so I will not forget:

November 30, 2021 - Lucas and I made arrangement with our parish priest for a scheduled confession at Queen of Peace Church. It was coincidentally the birthday of Father Simeon Samson Jr. too, our parish priest. I was very emotional during the confession. I wanted so much for God to have mercy on us.

December 3, 2021 - Lucas and I went to the City Health office to get our booster shot around two o’clock in the afternoon. We got Pfizer for booster from the recommendation of Dr. Jorge Padilla, the neurologist who had been seeing Lucas for home service lately. 

December 8, 2921 - My husband attended our first mass since March 15, 2020. It was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. A holiday of obligation and a national holiday as well. I was again very emotional. I so wanted God to heal us all. Lucas and I had a hard time getting back to the schedule of attending mass. Lucas was kind of restless the night before.

December 12, 2021 - Our first Sunday mass since the lockdown. We attended the second mass at eight o’clock in the morning. There were few people only, as most of the church goers attended the Misa de Gallo at early dawn.

December 17, 2021 - Lucas and I got our flu vaccines at Queen of Peace Church premise in the morning. After the flu shots, we visited the cathedral. It was really my wish to visit the cathedral for I used to be a frequent visitor of the church. The church was quiet as usual. It felt good to do so and pray at the church. Afterwards we bought burger and apple pie at Macdonald’s. Although we mostly limited our going out to the church, it was good to be able to go out again.

December 19, 2021 - We confined our church activities mostly to attending masses, yet I was scared since more people are going out already and the church is becoming full. I was selfish. I was hoping the church would have fewer people. Lord, please put an end to this pandemic already.

December 24, 2021 - We celebrated Christmas at our home and in our hearts. We spent the day at home with peace in our hearts but blasting with Christmas songs at the sala. I prepared a little bit of nice food like noodles and ham and fruit salad. We shared the food with our househelps too. Thank God for them. The food were not lavish though since Philippines specially Visayas region was just recently hard hit by typhoon Odette. I was most thankful that my son Tom and his family in Cebu City got their power and water back before Christmas. At least they will have a little normalcy on Christmas Day. Thank God for this. They had dinner with my son Emil and his wife Sue and my daughter Martha who was in Cebu for the holidays. Emil’s place was still out of power but they had generator and were assured to have generated lights for three days. Thank God for this also. Thank you God for the best Christmas gifts to me and my family. I love you Lord. Happy birthday my Lord Jesus Christ! Thank you for your great love.

December 25, 2021 - Lucas and I attended Christmas mass at 8 in the morning at Queen of Peace Church. Since the misa de gallo has ended, there were plenty of attendees during the eight o’clock morning mass. Lucas and I went to church early and selected to be seated at the first front pew, so it wouldn’t be crowded. My sister Jeannette was there on the other side of the aisle and she was coughing. There was another guy at our back, Oscar Tan Abing if I was not mistaken who was coughing too. I gave my sister additional mask to cover her mouth. I was kind of scared. We kept our distance all the time, but some people didn’t know how to keep distance. Some people didn’t know how to observe pandemic discipline.

December 26, 2021 - We attended Sunday mass. Our activities were mostly confined to church. But after church, we would request our driver to go to Jollibee or Macdonald’s drive-thru to buy hamburger,  spaghetti, pie. We were always hungry after the mass. Hehehe.

December 31, 2021 - We had new year’s eve dinner at Lucio’s place. There were only 5 of us namely Lucio (Lucas’ eldest brother), his wife Conchita, nephew Eugene, Lucas and I. On the way to LCT Bodega for dinner, (We were picked up by Eugene’s driver) we passed by the plaza, the fruit stands and the barbecue stands. We were shocked that there were a lot of people milling around. The crowds anywhere were not observing distancing protocol and a lot of people were not wearing mask either. Infact there seemed to be an overcrowding of people despite the drizzles. There were plenty of people eating at the barbecue stands unafraid of the pandemic. It seemed to be that my husband and I were only the people who were scared. At Lucio’s residence though, I was very happy and enjoyed this dinner with them. It was so nice to have this near normal gathering. After dinner, we went home early and went to sleep before midnight, before the firing of firecrackers began. We woke up through the noise though. Happy new year everyone!!!

January 1st, 2022 - We attended new year’s mass, the Solemnity of the Mother of God. As usual, there were always fewer people on New Year’s Day compared to Christmas Day.

January 2nd, 2022 - We attended Sunday mass but decided to look out and take precaution next Sunday since omicron variant has reached the Philippines.

January 5, 2022 - I attended the first Friday mass at 6:30 AM. Very few people on weekdays.

January 6, 2022 - Lucas and I decided to brave it out and go to Kusiong Beach on Thursday morning, a weekday. Aside from fearing the pandemic, we were also scared about safety on the way. Anyway we were glad for the decision. The whole beach front was empty. We didn’t swim though because there was no proper bathroom for changing clothes, rather we just stepped barefooted on the sand and the seawater. We called it grounding by the way. It was supposed to get rid of our bodily pains and maladies. Hehehe. We also enjoyed eating snacks on the beach. For the first time and the longest time, we drank cold soda. It was a splurge of appetite. We really did enjoy our beach escapade. The driver and the maid pick up a lot of stones and peebles for us too. I was so happy to have enjoyed the sea breeze and the water and the sand. Thank you God for giving us this opportunity. Thank you.

After January 6, 2022 - there has been a big surge of covid cases in the Philippines and Cotabato as well. We decided to stay put and stay home until this crisis be over. But we are scared since even people who are vaccinated get the sickness too. O God, please spare and protect us all from this pandemic. We believe, we hope and we trust in you. Have mercy O Lord. Have mercy.

Aging

 Growing old is inevitable. There is no let up. A person, upon reaching 40, begins to develop far sightedness. The once good eyes get easily tired and are needing of reading glasses. When I reached  40, I sincerely thought, maybe I would be exempted, but no. There is no exemption. After 50; most women undergo menopausal. It takes about three years I think to totally lost your female hormones. Symptoms vary from physical to physiological and mental. Drinking glasses of tofu milk everyday helped me a lot in alleviating my physical and emotional discomforts, but then my uric acid began to shoot up too. I had to slowly temper my tofu. At 60, joints and back pains are common occurrences, not to mention cataracts develop too at 60. And at 70, I think major illnesses happen. I am horribly frighten. I celebrated my 70th birthday last November 2021, wouldn’t I be scared?! I have an 81 year old husband to care for. Lord please slow down our aging process. I pray to God to spare me from major sicknesses, diseases and illnesses. Please help O Lord. Life is not easy but thank you for the gift of life and good health and safety, specially during this time of pandemic. Keep me and all my love ones, strong and healthy, out of harm and out of danger please. Continue to love us Lord. Thank you.

Marcelino Pan y Vino

Marcelino Pan y Vino is the title of an old old movie. It was my sister Helen’s (May her soul Rest In Peace) and mine first miraculously, kind of religious movie. We were very young and we watched it at the Lyric theater, a walking distance cinema that played English films in Cotabato City. This movie house had long been gone since we were teens. It think it was razed by a big fire. But young though we were, the movie made a very strong impression on us. We never forgot the title of the film, nor the little boy who secretly gave bread and wine daily to a poor pitiful suffering man, whom he uncovered in the monastery church attic. I even remembered the boy died at the end of the story. However many of the film’s other scenarios and circumstances I forgot already. 

Some three or four years ago, my late sister Helen acquired a television gadget for old movies. She invited us siblings to watch old movies with her. We had date dinner and old movie nights at her home. We tried at times searching for this particular film, but sadly we were not able to do so. Maybe it was just too old, or wasn’t really that popular. 

Anyway, yesterday November 12, I happened to see on Facebook, an offering to watch a movie presentation of Marcelino Pan y Vino in U tube. I did not let this chance passed. I had to watch this. Maybe my guardian Angel was helping me, or Helen was helping me too since I still continue to grieve for her. The movie however was in full Spanish, with no English translation. But I had to see this again. So I did. This was a movie taken in Mexico. The baby Marcelino was left at the doorstep of the monastery. He grew up with the priests along side with his neighbors the Mexicans rebels or bandidos. There are other scenarios of other people’s lives in the story but I just wanted to watch the miraculous part where he met Jesus. To make a long story short, Marcelino was such a precocious child at five. He was loved by everybody. He and his friend Iluterio were forbidden to go to the monastery attic because it was a run down place and storage of many church’s old and unused things. Then Iluterio died, from gunshot wound during a raid by the Mexican troops. Long after, Marcelino playfully, imagining himself playing with his friend, he went up to the attic by himself and accidentally uncovered the crucified statue of Jesus Christ. He got scared but went back again. He thought the man was a poor hungry stranger, and so offered him bread from the dining hall and wine from the sacristy. The man thanked him and talked to him. Lastly, to end the story, Marcelino began saving his own bread from his own meal, and also the left over wine from the priests’ meal in the dining hall. At the end, the priests with much curiosity, secretly followed him.  They heard and saw Jesus talking to him. Jesus asked what Marcelino wanted, his answer was to see his mother. Jesus took him up. Then both of them vanished into thin air. 

After watching this movie, it made me think. Miracles do not happened like this. What man wishes to happen, is not how God works. God ways are different from man’s ways. 

On the other hand, it made me think about my sister Helen. I think God has taken my sister Helen up into heaven. We had not seen each other since the pandemic began. She was okay by then. Then It was like God took her away from us and she just disappeared into thin air like Marcelino. We did not get to see her again. God took her away and she just vanished from this life into eternal light. I was thinking, maybe my sister Helen wanted to comfort me by letting me watch this old old movie. It was such a coincidence that I chance to see this old film from U tube through Facebook. Thank you my guardian Angel for guiding me and thank you Helen for consoling me. 

Helen Ledesma Tansuk 1949-2021

My sister Helen L. Tansuk passed away last October 10, 2021, 71 years old; 21days short of her supposedly 72nd birthday on October 31st. She died at the Cardinal Santos Hospital from 4th stage cancer. She was hospitalized on September 27. Her son Bernard was with her all through out her two weeks ordeal. The night Helen was admitted to the hospital, she was administered her last sacrament. She had confession and communion. God was gracious to her. The eve before she passed away, although in coma, a recorded rosary prayer was done for her by those who loved her. She passed away at around 10 am on a Sunday.  She is now in the presence of our Lord. No more sickness and pain. She is survived by her sons Gary and Aileen and three grand children, Bernard and Carlo; and her siblings Imelda, Jeannette, William, Heddy, Wilson and Willie.

May her soul Rest In Peace. May perpetual light shine upon her. Amen.

Nothing Much to Write About

I have not written for few months now because there is nothing much of any good news to write about. I have been staying at home most of the time, and although I am cooped up at home, yet I am even made more busy by taking care of house repairs. I did not like to add more anxieties to mine or our lives by writing unpleasant things. I wish I can share good news but until now the pandemic has not gone away. I pray the rosary everyday for my family and love ones, for friends, and for people who hardly know me. I pray for people who are in need of prayers, and also for the holy souls of those who have passed away either from the virus or other illnesses. I pray that God will soon end this pandemic. He is a loving and kind God. He will have mercy on us. God is our only hope and our only help. 

June 2021

Last June, I was busy attending to my husband because he had a sudden attack of lower back, lumbar pain. It was so painful that Lucas could hardly walk. I quickly asked and called up his Masonic brother and orthopedic doctor, Doctor Dimaren Dimatingcal at Cotabato Regional Medical Center for help. The good brother and doctor prescribed pain medicines for him through the cellphone. I also further consulted my husband neuro doctor in Manila. With the help of the two doctors advices, I also added my own personal lumbar attack experience by binding his back and stomach with my own girdle which helped him a lot. Lucas’ lower back got better but the pain transferred to his left leg and calf and ankle. His neurosurgeon told us for Lucas to do an mri, but we were so scared to go the hospital because there were a lot of new cases of covid in Cotabato. We however make do of some home remedies like hot compress, pain balm application, reducing his high in uric acid food intake, etc etc. 

I prayed to God, I asked Mama Mary, Saint Joseph and the Angels and Saints in heaven for help. I hang on to pray on the Feast Day of the Sacred  Heart of Jesus, also during the Feast Day of  Our Mother of Perpetual Help. With the help of Jesus our Lord, and our Blessed Mother, Lucas slowly got better. I also slowly weaned him from all his pain medicines. Thank God, he is okay now. He still has a lot of issues regarding muscles and nerve maladies but his lumbar and leg pains are gone. 

Thank God for your great help! Thank you so very very much! I love you Lord for you have love us first and will always love us. Thank you.