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On the night of Thanksgiving (11/26/20), Andrew was awake throughout the night with terrible stomach pain and went to the ER early the next morning. After nearly deciding to send him home thinking it was a stomach bug, his doctor decided to run a CT scan and discovered that he had appendicitis. Andrew underwent an appendectomy later that day (11/27/20) at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center and went home the following morning.
On Tuesday evening (12/2/20) while recovering at home, Andrew received a call from the surgeon who had performed his appendectomy. The surgeon informed Andrew that a carcinoid tumor had been discovered on his appendix during post-surgery testing. The surgeon further explained that while this type of tumor is on the cancer spectrum, he felt optimistic about a treatment plan and had no reason to believe that the cancer had spread to any other parts of Andrew's body.
Andrew returned to the hospital Wednesday morning (12/3/20) for a series of scans, lab work, and a colonoscopy. All indications so far show that there is no spread of the cancer. A laparoscopic assisted right hemi colectomy is scheduled for Wednesday, December 9. This surgery entails removing a third of Andrew's colon and then attaching his colon to his small intestine with titanium staples. We will have to wait for pathology results to come back a few weeks after the surgery before knowing for sure that there are no other tumors and in the meantime, ask you to pray with us for Andrew.
