@skm101 My husband faced a similar situation when a biopsy from a dermatologist brought a melanoma diagnosis. Melanoma must be caught early before it spreads. He was scheduled for a surgical consult 3 weeks later, and after that appointment, surgery 10 days later. I’m a Mayo patient and because it was cancer, I called Mayo and asked if he could be seen there. He would have had to start with a dermatologist and wait for that appointment and it could have been a couple months. It made more sense to have his surgery where he already had been evaluated. He had been sent to a good cancer surgeon and that has been good. There are followups and scans annually that will go on for 10 years. We were very lucky it had not spread because this bump had been on his hand for close to a year before I took him to the dermatologist. He was lucky and it had not spread. Doing all this closer to home was easier than going to Mayo and his care was good. If we were in a situation of cancer that had spread and needed some advanced treatment not available at home, then going to Mayo would be a choice. You have to evaluate the urgency of your situation and the timeliness of your options at home.

Jennifer