I have a question on whether it's alright for someone who's had top surgery explain their large scars to a medical doctor saying that they've removed two giant tumours weighing a total of half a kilo. Because that's what they saw them as. They call them tumour surgery as well, instead of top surgery.
I'm not going to answer this about what is "alright" because I think that depends on how you want to write your character.
I would probably read a character written like this as not having people in their life who have been through the medical complications of having tumours.
In a medical setting, I have no idea how someone could believe that this is a path of less resistance. Feigning having had giant tumours seems like a lot to fake, especially if they had any previous medical records of this happening, and I would not read a character trying to convince people of this in earnest as having much knowledge or care for people who have actually experienced things like breast cancer. It also will not make him seem cis, if that's what he's going for, in my opinion.
I guess I mainly ask if this is just terminology they've chosen to use, because that's kind of different... but I still would probably find a better euphemism in a medical setting where a doctor would need to be aware if someone has a predisposition to getting giant tumours, and where this would impact their care. Doctors, as much as we rely on them, don't always remember the stuff they have been told. (I think anyone who regularly interacts with the medical system as a disabled person could tell you this, especially those of us who have had our medical records printed out.) They'll likely need to explain this every visit, if it's just that they are using certain terminology.
If this is something said with the intention to skirt around the truth or lie for personal comfort or safety: I understand emotionally relating to chest as though they are tumours, but telling a doctor that you had massive tumours on your chest will no doubt lead to follow up questions about what kind of tumours, were they malignant (cancerous), do you have a genetic predisposition to tumours, how often should we do bloodwork to make sure this doesn't happen again, etc. This may become complicated and mean that medical issues that this character might end up having will get misinterpreted or overlooked.
I can understand someone saying this, outside of a medical context, if being stealth is essential for them. However, this will likely be interpreted as your character saying that they have had cancer. Even though not all tumours are cancerous, it opens the door and may get misquoted from one person to another as your character having said they had cancer and lying about it if they get found out.
A character being written this way would come off to me as uneducated and naive at best, and as having not totally thought this through.
If you are trying to write a more sympathetic character who doesn't face complications (medically or socially) for claiming to have had tumours, I might suggest saying something like gynecomastia instead, as there are people in that community who have explicitly said that they are okay with trans people saying this if it helps them feel safer, because it also happens to help destigmatize gynecomastia, and all the tissue is technically the same under a microscope anyway, and it's usually caused by the same thing. (Hormones doing stuff.)
I just think tumours are a bit much to claim to a doctor, whether because of the complications or whatever else. It may also lead to not being taken as seriously in a medical context, and that's just... a lot of stigma to wade through.
I generally find people writing stories about people faking some illness or disability to not be pretty damaging disability representation.
If this is a huge plot of your story, that's it's own thing. In which case I will continuously recommend @cripplecharacters as an excellent resource, and also mention @scriptmedic (largely an archival blog) as resources for the more disability and medical stuff.
All that said, I'm pretty sure I have heard people use this language in spaces with exclusively other trans people who all knew they were not talking about tumours in the traditional sense so much as emotional sense. I usually let it pass me by because it's clear to me that this is something that is a tumour in every way but physical, but I absolutely think writing a story with this will come off differently.
This is just my take though. Other trans disabled folks may feel differently.
-mod nat
