"Trammogram" - anybody else have "mammo" on DIEP or TRAM

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cats-in-nc
cats-in-nc Member Posts: 17
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer
"Trammogram" - anybody else have "mammo" on DIEP or TRAM
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  • cats-in-nc
    cats-in-nc Member Posts: 17
    edited February 2008

    Hi all!



    I went for a mammo on my bilat DIEPs today and both the tech and the doc wondered why! I will be a 5 year survivor in September of this year (YEAH!!!) so will also be "losing" my surgeon who is the one ordering them!



    So I need to now have either onc or internist or gyn order them or just decide not to have them......grrrr!



    So, what do you all do? MRI? Mammo? Nothing?



    I will ask my surgeon next week and my onc next month but wanted to know what other in the world and country are doing!



    "Moving Beyond" is so hard on mammo days!



    Please let me know what you all do!



    We are fighters!



    Hugs....Gina





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  • iodine
    iodine Member Posts: 4,289
    edited February 2008

    Since mammograms are for breast tissue, why would you want to do one on belly tissue?  I think your doc is off base on this one.  But, again, I got my medical degree in a gum ball machine last year.

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  • OneBadBoob
    OneBadBoob Member Posts: 1,386
    edited February 2008

    Hi Gina--

    I had a TRAM in August 07.  PS said it was not up to him whether I would have mammos on that breast, but up the breast surgeon.

    I never brought the question up with gyn or onc.

    Saw breast surgeon for follow-up, she said no mammos on the TRAM breast.  Clinical exam and observation.

    You might want to get more opinions on this one.

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  • Fitztwins
    Fitztwins Member Posts: 7,969
    edited February 2008

    I have never had a mammo on my reconstructed breast, I did have a MRI on it.

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  • silvergirl9114
    silvergirl9114 Member Posts: 381
    edited February 2008

    I was just over 2 years out last summer and had the first mammo on the recon side. I was told they use less compression but it is still the best way to see residual breast tissue---they can never get every last shred of it with a mast. I'm also under the impression that they can see some of the lymph nodes too---could be wrong on that count though.



    Jeannie

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  • althea
    althea Member Posts: 1,595
    edited February 2008
    I had a unilateral diep in '05.  My surgeons said no mammo on the reconstructed side.  My new gyn ordered a bilat mammo in december, but I insisted on getting just a unilateral.  I think it's hard to know whose word to take.  I feel like I live at the end of the earth sometimes, so local docs are usually low on my list in the confidence arena. 
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  • sccruiser
    sccruiser Member Posts: 1,119
    edited February 2008

    I had a tram flap recon on right side. Only get mammo on left side now. Breast surgeon does clinical exam once a year.



    grace

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  • berrybunch
    berrybunch Member Posts: 6
    edited February 2008

    I have bi-lateral DIEP flaps and my onc orders a PET scan once a year.  I guess that would show anything happening in the chest wall area.

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