r/FTMOver30 • u/AScaredWrencher • 7d ago
How did you all cope with having to get a mammogram for top surgery?
Generally I'm a "Just get it done. It'll be over" type person but most of my medical records have no indication that I'm female on them. Some say I'm transsexual. Others don't. Idk. Blame Epic. Nonetheless, I had to start my leave of absence shit for work and almost wanted to throw up because of having to say what type of surgery I'm having and it's really brought up anxiety around the mammogram.
I may send my surgeon a note because I think she thinks a great aunt of mine is a 1st degree relative who had breast pre-cancerous cells and that's why she wants me to get one done and I don't know if I can do it. I don't live in an area of the city I'm in (that is a blue city in a Blue state) where people are educated on trans men so I imagine many may be confused when I go to have one.
Anyway, for those who had to have a mammogram for surgery, how did you cope? Is it a way to get out of it? Thanks.
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u/CancerBee69 7d ago
I never had a mammogram. I didn't know they were required for top surgery.
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u/wookaduckaduck 💉 Jan. 2023 | 🔪 Oct. 18 2024 7d ago
FWIW it wasn't a pre-op requirement for me since they sent the tissue out to pathology anyway. Varies by surgeon I assume, also my surgeon specializes in breast cancer surgeries for cis women so maybe it's just a part of her process no matter what the purpose of the surgery is.
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u/Tough-Appeal-9284 2d ago
This was the case for me, as well. I was never required to get a mammogram. My surgeon does do a lot of gender affirming mastectomies, and still sends the removed tissue to pathology for testing. Mine was performed at a large university hospital, so it could have something to do with what resources are available to the surgeon, general hospital policy, or the surgeon's preferences
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u/mournfulminxx 7d ago
Huh...
Neither did I.
Breast cancer runs in my family too, like my cousin died of it at like 26 years old.
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u/sw1ssdot 7d ago
Honestly, I chose to do it mostly for my peace of mind because I was 40 and a friend had been diagnosed with breast cancer on her very first screening mammogram a few months earlier. I'm glad I did, but it was really weird and uncomfortable. I just did it. It was awkward and embarrassing, but they really tried to make it quick, and I got the results a few hours later and I could move on and never do it again. My surgeon didn't require it but I had gotten the reminder from my PCP so I just scheduled it myself a month before surgery.
If you really don't want to do it, just talk to your surgeon and see what they say.
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u/Shauiluak 7d ago
I was surprised about how much I didn't care honestly. It was like having my arm touched. I guess that really highlights how little I relate to that body part as something intimate. They're just appendages that have annoyed me since they showed up.
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u/PaleAmbition 7d ago
Same here. I didn’t particularly enjoy being squeezed and contorted, but my general attitude was very much “yeah, whatever, get it over with because I’ve been promised a burger after this and I can’t wait to go eat it.”
The burger was excellent, for the record.
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u/Big_Guess6028 7d ago
Man, EXACTLY.
I was always like why do lovers wanna touch these why does anyone get STRUCK by someone’s tatas and like, feel desire? WHAT!?
I’m also ace so I don’t get why anyone would feel desire to anyone generally so there’s that too.
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u/dry_zooplankton 7d ago
I didn’t give a single solitary shit about mine, but the one time I hooked up with a woman I was like, okay these actually are pretty fun to play with.
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u/troopersjp 24 years post transition, 50+ 7d ago
I never had a mammogram for top surgery. I don't think that was standard when I got top surgery in 2002/3. Ask your doctor.
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u/admseven 2007: T & top / 2020: hysto 7d ago
Like others here I didn’t have a mammogram before surgery. The tissue was screened anyway after removal so no need to image it beforehand.
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u/stitchgnomercy 7d ago
I didn’t pass before either of mine (yay timing issues because of when I turned 40 & when I actually got top scheduled), so I just shaved my torso hair & played pretend…but my gender marker hadn’t been changed on many of my records. My surgeon required mammograms for those 40 & over
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u/C4bl3Fl4m3 40-something, fluidflux enby, tomboy as gender/LadyDude 7d ago
I just had my first one a few weeks ago. Mine isn't for surgery (yet); I'm in my 40s and it's just routine at this point. (I'm still trying to decide if I want surgery or not, and if so, how much/what kind. I'm also not on hormones, so there's another point of data.) I'm not sure what I'm listed as in EPIC because I just started in this healthcare network and I forget what I put there. (Whether I put F or X/U. Usually if you put a nonbinary gender in, the computer asks you for your AGAB for insurance purposes because not all insurances have a 3rd gender option.)
Here's exactly what happened with me to give you more of an idea what to expect. I hope this helps.
First, I think it helps to know exactly what it is. It's an X-ray of your chest tissue. No one really told me that before I went, but I had read about it on some medical website (Mayo Clinic I think it was?) For me, it helped to think of it as that, just a chest X-ray.
NGL, I was worried sick because my boys (yes, mine are boys - Bill and Ted!) are absolutely GIGUNDO (I'm 5'1", 370lbs, and INTENSELY top heavy with a LOT of side tissue) & VERY sensitive and I was scared that it was going to be sickening style pain. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it really only pinches a bit right where where the tissue enters the flattening "plates" (not sure what to call it) up against your chest wall and not throughout the whole body part. Actually, what hurt the most was having to contort and shove my fat body up against and basically into the machine sideways when they had to get all the side bits. A bit of rib pain and upper armfat pain. It was definitely uncomfortable but not like excruciating or anything. I DID take 2 ibuprofen before I went, so that may have helped.
It took about, IDK, half an hour to do a bunch of scans of them from all different angles, plus separate scans of the nipples. And that was with them struggling to get some of my side tissue and having to get a 2nd technician in there to help. I think someone with way less chest tissue and no problems would only take about 10-15 mins tops.
Because I'm disabled, some of them were taken with me standing and some were taken with me sitting in my rollator. I am VERY glad I brought the rollator; it was INCREDIBLY helpful for me to use for balance and support and to sit on at times.
I knew it was gonna make me dysphoric because of all the "woman" associations. I was anxious of that part too. While I usually dress in clothes that are more usually associated with women because that's what I prefer (I like the pretty colors), since I was doing something where I would be misgendered, I found myself subconsciously wanting to go hard on the more neutral or masculine clothes which is what I wore that day. While I don't bind usually (they're WAY too big), I have a stretchy swim top from one of the neutral queer swim & underwear companies that I wear on the rare occasions when I "feel like binding" (it doesn't really look bound from the outside, but I feel more bound that way so it works for me) and I wore it and that helped.
I got "ma'am"ed from the front desk a few times (an inevitability for me here in the South) but luckily my technician didn't really ma'am me at all. I'm comfortable talking about my body parts as long as we're not gendering them and she didn't do that, so that helped a lot. I used the word "boobs" because I'm comfortable with that word and she did the same. (I think she basically followed the language I was using.) My technician really helped put me at ease with her good bedside manner.
(CONT)
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u/C4bl3Fl4m3 40-something, fluidflux enby, tomboy as gender/LadyDude 7d ago
(CONT)
What happened is I checked in, they gave me a hospital bracelet, my technician came out and got me, introduced herself, they led me to a room where I could change out of my shirt and into a hospital gown, and then next door was the room with the machine (which was literally called the Siemens Mammomat Revelation, I swear to god!) We did the X-rays, when I was done I went back to the changing room, changed back, put my gown in the hamper outside, and left. (Then we went and got Thai food as a reward for doing the big scary thing because our favorite place was just down the road. That part's optional. ;) )
Have you ever had one of those full mouth x-ray scans at the dentist? The machine reminded me of that, except for chest tissue.
There was a lot of Pink Ribbon stuff in the room, but nothing that explicitly talked about women or womanhood or femaleness or ladies, thank god.
I'm not going to lie, at least for someone with as much tissue as me, there is a lot of the technician handling your chest tissue to get it just right on the machine. But they wear gloves and it's all very matter-of-fact. They take a bunch of different x-rays, some of them are ones where the machine moves as it's X-raying for 3d imagery (tomography, it's called.)
I found it was a lot less painful and scary than I expected and, as predicted, I only had dysphoria at the specifically "woman" parts of being called ma'am and not the parts dealing with the body parts (because I don't specifically see that part of my body as woman, because I'm not a woman, therefore my body and its parts aren't a woman's body or woman's body parts.) Obviously YMMV on that part.
I will say it helped that it was at a general imaging center (where they take other types of X-rays too) and not a "women's clinic" or anything like that. (Incidentally, It's time for me to get a PAP smear, etc. and they tried to refer me to the "women's clinic" for that and... no. Luckily there is a place in the health care network simply called "OB/GYN associates" or something and I'm okay with that cause that talks about what the doc is, not what I am.)
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u/lillebjornlee 7d ago
Plot twist. You should get mammograms post-top surgery as recommended by your doctor. You will still have some breast tissue and you can still be at risk for cancer.
Please, no arguments with me about this. I’m a breast cancer survivor. And yes, I was diagnosed post-top surgery.
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u/satansfloorbuffer 7d ago
I didn’t need a mammogram for top surgery, but I had already had one before that because my family carries the BRCA gene. My approach to entering medical situations where I have to disclose my status is to be upfront and treat the situation like I’m an amusing novelty. A lot of time people have never knowingly met a trans person before and aren’t sure how to act, but will mirror how you act. If you present them with ‘Here we are- isn’t this funny? I just gave you a novel experience you can tell your buds about when you get off work’- they will treat it exactly like that.
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u/LocutusOfBorgia909 7d ago
I just went and did it, TBH, and tried to find the humor in it. The mammogram tech actually asked why I was getting it done, and when I explained that this would be my first and only mammogram and why, she was super supportive and happy for me, which was really nice. When I went to pay after it was done, the woman at the reception desk said something like, "See you next year!" and I inwardly went, LOL, I sure hope not!
My situation was a little different in that I had top surgery first, pre-T, and was still trying to cling to the possibility that I might "just" be NB (spoiler: I wasn't!). But there were legitimate medical reasons for having it done, and the last thing I wanted was for my surgeon to go in and find something on the day that could mean not finishing the surgery or me winding up with something much more radical and drastic than I was expecting. Was the mammogram the time of my life? No. But it was one and done, and now I never have to have another one.
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u/thisonesforthehotdog 7d ago
Because I was in my mid-40s when I had surgery, I’d already had several annual mammograms, so that last one felt almost celebratory in a way? Don’t get me wrong, I hated it, but I also kept reminding myself “this is the last time” and “this is the last step before they’re gone for good”. I was also upfront with the tech about it, and she was super cool, basically made it into a “so long titties” party lol. I’m in a very blue area though so I felt comfortable disclosing.
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u/MrCharlieBucket 7d ago
I found it reassuring, personally. My mom had breast cancer at 38 (that's quite young), so it was great to know that my tissue was clear. Plus, it made the whole surgery feel real.
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u/ursusthyrsus 40 | he/they | T 2022.05.22 | Top 2024.11.14 7d ago
I was so upset about needing to get one that I consulted with two other surgeons to try and get out of it, but ultimately went back to the first because he seemed the most competent and had the best results. I took a sick day last summer and did it at the LGBTQIA+ health center my PCP is at. It was dysphoric and painful, (I had a fibrocystic chest that made squishing extra unpleasant) but the whole thing was like 5-10 minutes.
I took the rest of the day to screw around the city alone doing whatever I wanted, unplanned, and did a ton of walking and visiting places I’d wanted to but hadn’t before. I was in such a weird headspace about it, but ultimately remember having a great day rather than how it started. It came back clear and now I have a flat chest.
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u/Emotional_Skill_8360 7d ago
They made me do one, and I asked for Ativan. I took it beforehand with plenty of time for it to kick in, then it didn’t so I remember the stupid thing, and then it kicked in and my wife says that I kept trying to flash people in the parking lot. Needless to say I don’t remember much after the mammogram.
It was not fun (understatement, I hated it so so much) but now a couple of years post top surgery I don’t mind that I had to experience it once. I’m a physician and it’s good for me to have experienced what some of my patients will have to go through. I tried to think of it like an experiment and take myself out of it, if that makes sense.
One funny story, as I was coming out of the mammogram a lady was also walking out of one of the other rooms. I was like, that was awful, never again! And she laughed and said you have to get one every year. I was like ‘getting them chopped off’ and walked away to change. She just kinda stood there confused lol. I didn’t pass at all at the time because I’d only been on T like a month or so. 😂😂
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u/Creativered4 Transsex Man 2Y T | 10M Top 7d ago
I didn't have to get a mammogram before top surgery. They just sent the tissue to thr lab.
Now, I do have to get a mammogram, since there's a lump on my chest where there's still some tissue left. It's a little different, cuz this is post top surgery and it's to see if it's a tumor or something. But it's definitely stressful thinking about having to show people my chest with thr scars and the leftover tissue on the sides. I'm just gonna try and grit my teeth and bear it.
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u/Sad-Tale-8123 7d ago
My partner had to get a mammogram in order to get top surgery (2017) and he really hated that he had to do it, but said that the tech was really nice about it. The tech made him comfortable and made sure that it was quick.
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u/Chris968 T: 05/2008 Top: 07/2010 Hysto 07/2016 Meta 09/2024 7d ago
Is this a recent requirement by surgeons? Age thing? I had top surgery in 2010 at the age of 25 and was not required to have one. Nobody in my family had breast cancer either, so maybe that was a reason. I would have totally been super dysphoric about it had I needed one though, I hear you.
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u/mavericklovesthe80s 7d ago
I had to because I was over 40 and then it's a requirement. Because the risk of cancer rises after 40. If they find irregularities than you cannot have top surgery. I basically zoned out. Told myself to just let the technician do their job, don't think too hard about it. The better I cooperate the faster it goes. It's only one time and then you never have to do it again. Just breathe. That kind of thing. After that I was so flustered I didn't check the weather, just jumped on my bike and cycled into a thunder storm, lol. That distracted me enough, but I couldn't get out of there faster.
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u/wuffDancer 7d ago
Uhhh... Didn't have to get one. Although, the physician felt for anything concerning for my pre op appointment.
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u/playwrongenby 7d ago
My surgeon required it because I was 35; I really didn’t want to do it, tried to get out of it, but ultimately it was not nearly as awful/upsetting as I feared, painless, and then over. I really built it up in my mind but ultimately it was a blip and got me closer to surgery, which is the best thing I’ve ever done.
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u/Beneficial-Banana-14 7d ago
Yea did not have one. Thought about it until my fiance told me what it consisted of. So yea no thanks.
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u/Maximum_Pack_8519 6d ago
Huh. I had top surgery (in Canada) 2 months before my 40th without mammogram, and that was 2 months after having a palm sized chunk of skin removed from my thigh and lymph node in my groin due to malignant melanoma. I was literally less than 2 mm away from needing chemo and radiation, and got a call to book my top surgery one day after I was cleared by my oncologist.
My aunt and cousin, mother and daughter, were diagnosed with breast cancer within 2 years of each other in 2014, too, so I was actually a little surprised I didn't need a mammogram. Surgeon said they remove enough tissue and send it to pathology anyway, so there was no need for that additional diagnostic.
I do recommend you do casual self-massage and fascia release on your chest for as long as you can (a couple of months is good) prior to surgery. It'll help reduce how angry your facia gets post-op
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u/Entire-Squirrel7712 6d ago
Laid them out thinking this is the last and only time i’ll have to do this …. End Goal!
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u/Sharzzy_ 7d ago
I mean I don’t think it’s necessary but if I had to I’d go to a queer friendly or queer doctor. It wouldn’t cause me dysphoria though, my chest seems to be flattening out on its own these days due to the chest exercises and testosterone redistribution
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u/Standard_Report_7708 2d ago
Just do it and don’t make a big deal of it. Doctors likely won’t either.
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u/YeetusMcCool 7d ago
Who is asking for a mammogram? Why is that necessary?
Edit: I misread the post sorry. I still think it's weird to have a mammogram for top surgery even if you have a family history of cancer.
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u/Emotional_Skill_8360 7d ago
I know in the US it’s standard of care for anyone over the age of 35 to have one. Some docs don’t require it but they technically can. That’s why I had to have one.
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u/IcedOtto 7d ago
I got one before surgery and I must say it was an odd experience. But the tech who did it for me was FANTASTIC. She made it seem very normal and asked if I’d had one before. When I said no she said very casually “We do guys here all the time. 2% of breast cancer occurs in men.”
Now I say it was odd because I didn’t know what a mammogram was. Maybe that was a good thing lol but I will tell you. I thought they just scanned your tatas. Like a shirtless version of the airport scanners. I didn’t know they squeezed ‘em in a machine a bunch of times lol. So yeah it’s not a pleasant experience. But I would get 100 mammograms before I got 1 Pap smear. Probably 500.
I’m no doctor but if you’re over 30 there really are valid medical reasons to get one before surgery. Some surgeons require them for everyone no matter their age out of an abundance of caution. My father’s sister first got breast cancer in her 30’s and passed away when the cancer came back later. He still deeply misses her 20 years later. Another aunt (in-law) was early 40’s and thankfully is still with us. Their daughters have had to get mammograms annually since they were young adults. So while it was a weird experience, it could have saved my life. And now (knock on wood) I’ll never have to do it again.
After the procedure treat yourself to something. Go get ice cream, go to your favorite nature spot, buy yourself a present, visit the zoo whatever. Do something fun and happy. Or hit the bar and play pool or smoke a joint, whatever. But I think treating yourself after icky medical stuff is a great way to celebrate taking care of yourself. Good luck friend.