I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive granular cell cancer in May 2017. Because the disease is so unusual, I sought treatment at MD Anderson — a two-hour flight from my home in Indiana and a 15-hour drive by car.

Throughout June and early July 2017, my husband and I made several trips back and forth — down to Texas for evaluation, a return home, back to Texas for surgery, home to Indiana to heal, then back again to Texas for...