For you longtime readers, you know that Pilot and I share a birthday month!
You may also know of the longtime “Birthday Curse” I’ve mentioned several times associated with mine.

Well… the Birthday Curse raises its evil head again!

My actual birthday was fun. I turned the big 40! I’ve crested the hill and now I’m over it! Pilot surprised me with a movie night out with friends, and we were treated by my bestie to the tickets. We saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice! ate some decent movie theater food, and another friend treated me to a pina colada.

My treat to myself? I got my first Mammogram! Day after my birthday. I was so excited, and so ready to have it done. Being adopted, I don’t have any familial medical history to assist with keeping an eye on things to which I may be susceptible. That includes not knowing if I’m a higher candidate for breast cancer. Whatever the result, I was grateful to have an answer one way or the other for peace of mind. My scan came out clear, and I’m grateful.

Low and behold, I could’ve had a mammogram as early as AGE 30. I have asked every doctor I’ve ever had since I was the age of 28 for an annual mammogram. I was denied every year until earlier this year.

The person operating the mammogram scanner was absolutely appalled that I was denied a mammogram for the last 10 years. She wants me to advocate to other people assigned as female at birth to advocate harder for themselves and keep asking (if you have the resources to do so) until you get a doctor to say “YES” to your mammogram as early as the age of 30. Even EARLIER if you have breast cancer in your family.

Now, back to the Birthday Curse:
In whatever way you feel about it, Pilot works for a company that has been doing major layoffs and furloughs. Well, the day before my birthday, Pilot’s job got furloughed. We’ve been dealing with some hardships as of late, and we didn’t need this piled on.

The day of, and the day after, my birthday, Pilot and I noticed that Buddy Bacher hasn’t been behaving like his normal sunny and adventurous self.

Well, it turns out both Buddy Bacher and Pilot have both come down with colds. I blame the start of the school year where Buddy Bacher has been interacting with other kids in some free pre-school programs where there were a metric butt ton of other children drooling and touching everything.

I think the only reason I’ve managed to avoid “the plague” so far is I got my flu and Covid booster the same afternoon right after I had my mammogram. My immune system was literally kicked into high gear at the height of Pilot and Buddy Bacher coming down with whatever it is they both have.

It’s been a rough week in the Bacher household, but we’re doing our best. There are some other hardships going on, and we’ll see how they affect Pilot’s and my future, including a job hunt for both of us while Pilot’s job is furloughed. We’ll see if he’s able to return to full time at some point, or if I’m able to find something that supports all of us in the next coming weeks.

Until then, thank you for sticking with me, and wishing you a brighter month than we’re experiencing right now.

– KB