Steve,
I had a bronchoscopy (years ago). It's not an easy test even for a young
person but it was done as an outpatient in a consulting type environment.
Biopsy as far as I know requires an operating room environment. These
rooms have to be booked (ahead of time), where's there specialists and
special equipment and if there's complications and/or may even require an
overnight stay.

Some (of what I say above) is explained here
http://www.radinfonet.com/cme/williams/percutaneous_biopsy.htm

There's no point in putting her on chemo if she doesn't have cancer,
right?

So hang in there while the process happens.
J

You may want to try here
http://www.intouchlive.com/myths/lung/Lung04.htm
(unfortunately every Sunday morning, it seems, their server is down), so I
cannot look and see right now if they explain the various procedures.
J

The sugeon doesn't do CT guided biopsies. A radiologist would.
A CT guided biopsy is more dangerous than a bronchoscopy, so it makes sense
to do the least invasive test first.
3 weeks is a completely irrelevant time  with regard to a lung cancer.

Detection 3 weeks earlier won't make a difference to the outcome if it is
cancer.

in my opinion, I think that you have every right to question a surgeon. When
my grandma found out she had small cell lung cancer, I asked for the number
to her doctor and called him. He skirted around telling me what was up, what
kind of treatment was recommended and his attitude was "your grandma's 72.
I'd be surprised if she made it another year." My response to that was
"you're right, she is 72 years old. She's a very strong woman who deserves
to be treated with dignity and respect. And you're right, if she makes it
another year, I'd be surprised too BUT don't you DARE make the decision to
not treat my grandmother because she's elderly! if you do that, I'll slap
you with a wrongful death lawsuit and a malpractice suit that will have you
digging yourself out of a financial hole until you are her age." When I
talked to my grandma again, I suggested she find another oncologist after I
told her what he told me. was I pissed? oh yeah... I was very mad. he knew
about the spot longer than my grandma did. it wasn't until she walked by and
saw her  x-ray and saw that the first x-ray had a smaller spot, the second
x-ray had a larger spot and this was in the course of about a month. Once
she found a new oncologist, all they really could do was to keep an eye on
the tumors, do some pain management and if she was healthy enough, do some
chemo. if it weren't for that new oncologist, my grandma wouldn't have
lasted another 3 months...
so to say you have no right to question a surgeon or a doctor? well, all I
can say is that they're there to be questioned. I doubt they'd be insulted
if you did and if they are insulted, find a new doc.
just my 2 cents worth. hope it helps a little