Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Steven Lauer, assigned to guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55), always wanted to be out to sea on an aircraft carrier, but when he was flown to USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), March 19, it wasn't under the circumstances he imagined.

"I was standing watch when I felt a sharp pain shoot through my stomach," Lauer said. "I tried to work through the pain, but eventually I found myself sitting in medical being told that I may have appendicitis."

Lauer received treatment from Stout's independent duty corpsman while arrangements were made to transport him to Ike. Once the IDC examined Lauer, he made the initial appendicitis diagnosis.

Although Stout, part of Carrier Strike Group 10 (Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group), has its own medical department, it lacks the doctors, nurses and surgical capability of an aircraft carrier. Ike, on the other hand, has considerably larger medical facilities, an abundance of equipment, and a surgeon who performs the occasional appendectomy.

Fortunately for Lauer, the IDC's diagnosis was timely and accurate. Lauer was manifested aboard a helicopter and was transported to Ike to receive further care.

"On board Ike, we have the ability to more properly diagnose the patient," said Lt. Cmdr. Jamie Fitch, Ike's general surgeon. "The decision was made to bring him here, as opposed to taking him to land, due to the proximity of the ship and our ability to get him the care he needed quicker."

A short time after the helicopter carrying Lauer landed on Ike's flight deck, he received a final diagnosis and was in surgery after a little more than an hour aboard the ship.

"The helicopter touched down around 7 p.m., and by 8:30 p.m. the patient was in the operating room," Fitch said. "By 11 p.m., he was out of surgery and recovering."

It took many moving parts to make the surgery possible. Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James Champion is on standby any time a patient requires transit on the flight deck, and he was the first to say that he cannot do what he does without assistance.

"One of the hardest parts of my job is coordinating how I'm going to get the patient to main medical," Champion said. "I receive help from so many people. From the team on the flight deck receiving the helo, to weapons department aiding me with the elevators, to air department helping me transport patients, it is an awesome team effort, and everyone comes together to make it all work."

Fitch does not take the cohesiveness the strike group displays when faced with adversity for granted.

"So much goes into these evolutions," Fitch said. "Everyone says, 'wow, medical did another surgery that saved a shipmate,' but the number of Sailors aboard this ship and throughout the strike group that are involved in making it happen safely has nothing to do with me. They should all be applauded for their efforts."

Ike is underway conducting a Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in preparation for a future deployment.

For more news from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), visit www.navy.mil/.