Diane and Linnea can attest to the fact that the right funny word in a tense situation can cause uncontrollable laughter and provide a welcome release. 

The second day after my heart surgery, Diane and Linnea were the two family members allowed in the room.  The nurse arrived with the order to remove the drainage tubes from under my diaphragm.

As a side note, check out someone who has had open heart surgery.  They will likely have a long vertical scar where the surgeon cracked open the breastbone, and two smaller horizontal slit scars under the ribs where tubes were left in to drain the fluids from the surgery site. Those tubes are a lot longer on the inside than you might think.  

In any case, the nurse was from some Scandinavian county, and she was explaining the removal procedure in the sing song measure of the Muppet’s Swedish Chef, “I am going to count to tree, and on da turd…”

The ladies looked at each other, covered their mouths, and ran out of the room to prevent laughing in the nurse’s face.  While they were convulsed in the hallway, another nurse walked up to give them comfort, “It’s so hard when you see them in pain, isn’t it?”  Diane and Linnea could only nod; they were too out of breath to comment or say thank you.