Thank you so much for your reply. I've always brought my laptop, with a typed list of questions, to every appt. with my onc., and I type his replies (and also record the appt.). Will continue to do so, and thanks.

I'm being treated at a hospital that isn't nationally recognized in any discipline, and this makes me nervous with regard to surgery. (My diagnosis came out of nowhere, after some intense itching and jaundice prompted an ER visit, and I ended up at this hospital bc my primary-care physician was here.) My onc. has good educational credentials and has been practicing for about 20 years; he's smart, and I trust him, not least bc he has pushed for me to get surgery despite an early indication that my cancer night be metastatic (which would lead him to give me palliative care only).

I live close enough to Hopkins Hospital to be treated there, but I don't want to leave my onc. (or the social worker who has helped me with some related financial woes). I plan to meet with a Hopkins surgeon as well, and I plan to ask my onc., whom I'll see two days after I see the surgeon, whether my having the surgery at Hopkins but having all of my my post-surgery and post-surgical-recovery care back at the non-Hopkins hospital would jeopardize my relationship with him or with the non-Hopkins hospital.

I probably should have gone to Hopkins as soon as I had the diagnosis, but there was a giant logistical complication related to getting a referral to an onc. (don't ask) on top of the general overwhelming-ness of "Hey, your current symptoms aren't something chronic / manageable -- they're cancer, maybe metastatic!" So I passively threw myself on the mercy of a patient advocate at my former PCP's hospital (the non-Hopkins one) bc I didn't know what else to do.

Sorry if this is waaay too long, and thank you very much for your time, help, and kindness. Take care.