Avoiding politics and slightly thread-hijacking...health care does differ between countries and not just because of insurance or government, but because of MD training and preferences. What is considered routine testing will differ, but so does how exams are performed.

For instance, LPH notes that she used a bike for her stress test. I smiled when I read that. Eons ago when worklife was good I worked for a health care device manufacturer. Within the US, stress EKG units were almost universally treadmill; the bike was a European thing. It was rare to find the bike in the US stress testing lab (hmmm...just as it is still rare to find a lot of bikes on the streets in the US).

Ain't it grand, though, that this forum has more than one cultural variation so now ya'll can request the test while being informed enough to say, "but, in Norway it is routine"?