We had several of my old buddies from my Naval Air Wing plus family over for
Thanksgiving. Mrs Momsen was worried about being able to cook enough food
for everyone so she did her best, and as usual, greatly exceeded
expectations. The food was absolutely fantastic, from the wild boar shot by
Mrs M herself to the 3 turkeys baked to perfection. Of course the guests
being gracious did their absolute best to consume all the food and libations
available.

By my count everyone had 4 helpings and enough alcohol to winterize a
Caterpillar D-11. Then the trouble started. First, we had one or two
complaints of belly pain. Then it was six and within an 2 hours we had 9
people holding their bellies in pain. What was it? It couldn't have been
food poisoning because not everyone was sick, only those who had multiple
helpings.

Things got really tense, we couldn't tell if it was belly aches or burst
appendices. If we have 9 cases of burst appendices these people could die.
So I called 911 to notify the emergency services of this grave and life
threatening condition. There wasn't ample ambulance service for the 9 people
so we arranged for helicopter flights from the local schoolyard (this seemed
to lift the spirits of the aviators). The Surburban got filled and made 2
trips down to the school. 4 Medevac helicopters were used to evacuate 9
people to 3 local area hospitals.

One by one we found out the good news. Not one of the cases were burst
appendix and all were well after a good stomach pumping. But that is not
all - we were all doubly blessed as everyone has health insurance so the
full cost of the helicopters, ambulances, stomach pumps, x rays, emergency
room fees and the like were all born by someone else! Yes, its difficult to
tell the difference between a tummy ache and a ruptured appendix and that's
why we got professional services - a basic human right in any rich country
were someone else can pay for it!