Don't panic,a single exposure isn't going to do measurable harm. Air testing is unnessary and useless. 99% of what was stirred up fell to the floor. Buy hepa bags for your vacuum and clean everything in sight. Floor,furniture,drapes ect and dispose of bag inclosed in a plastic bag. Meanwhile if you would like to know for future referance,call around to find a lab which will test a sample ceiling scrapeing you take them. Caveat,once you recieve a postive test,you are required by law to devulge it to future buyers wherther they ask or not.

Understand, people got mesothelioma from working for years, with a constant exposure to asbestos.

Next time, read up on the proper precautions for working with asbestos. With a small project like that, it is easy.

As others have indicated, you don't need to be terrified over this. Just move on and do it right the next time.

I worked for years as an environmental scientist, and one of the things I was responsible for was asbestos regulation, management, and removals. It's good to be alert to potential environmental hazards, but you don't know if there is any asbestos present and, if there is, what your husband did presented a trivial risk. You need to keep this in perspective: in almost any area in this country there is a small background level of asbestos that can be detected in the air, so it's not like you were perfectly protected from asbestos exposure until this recent little incident. I am not making light of your concerns, and the next time you disturb the ceiling you should have it tested first and use asbestos remediation methods if warranted. But, for now, please stop worrying about what happened. Your family will be ok.

P.S.: Painting the ceiling was a good thing: if you actually do have asbestos, it's a good way to lock in any stray fibers.