Phewf

That's a Coxism around these parts. It comes from Spencer who for some reason thinks the expression "Whew" is pronounced "Phewf" of "fewf" (whichever you prefer).

Phewf is all I could say today when I walked out of the last Fed Ex drop. I had just walked out from handing the man behind the counter the blood samples from my precious boy.

Our nurse met us here today and Coleman was a champ for a draw from both arms - not even a wince. It's so wonderful that he can be touched and handled now - it helps on all fronts. I think it was between 13 and 16 vials we drew today and we had packing and shipping instructions across the den floor. We had two LabCorp stops until we made it to the one that would specially prep some of the vials. At first we were told they couldn't get it prepped for tonight's shipment...it must have been the look on our faces. We were told it would be prepped and make it out tonight. As I sit here with Coleman, I am thinking about three different planes headed to Las Vegas, Phoenix and Germany all with a small clinical pack tucked somewhere in the cargo bay carrying the blood that hopefully holds the answers we need.

Back to waiting - waiting and working on detoxing. Coleman is also scheduled to start taking a weekly dose of meds via an intramuscular shot this week. This drug will clear out any residual strep and also begin to work on the bacteria. These shots are frequently used for Lyme patients and I hope he is ready to handle them without a big set back. Even without a clinical diagnosis of Lyme, these shots should help. They may also hurt before they help.

He has been standing some on the walker with enough muscle strength to get the job done but the bottoms of his feet still hurt too much to put weight on the floor.

For now, we have done what we can. We have researched and petitioned for the proper testing and I believe that's what we have done. Now we just have to hope the lab works goes as planned and they have everything they need.

It's time for lights out because somewhere in this hectic day we shot a commercial as well. So grateful we were able to jump through the hoops and that when all was said and done, the day was as good as we had hoped. That's what we're thankful for tonight!

If you make it through a tough day, just say what we do...Phewf!