I can’t order the western blot for your children because I am an adult nurse practitioner only. I’ve never had a parent ask me to order this, but you could certainly talk to your pediatrician about it.
Because the PCR sample is looking for genetic material and not trying to grow something, the swab test is stable for a long time. UW would disagree that it is unstable after 36 days – they would say far, far longer. it sounds like you were aggressive in your collection of the sample, which is good. You could repeat it once more if you question the results.
You could also consider this for your children, you know. Talk to your pediatrician about it -they might be willing to give you swabs to take home for the kids as well.
Terri