I had my first run-in with the Dutch emergency medical services last week. I was attending a concert in a church in a nearby town. A colleague was organizing the concert to finish a degree in worship music she has been working on for several years. I had gotten a ride with another colleague and was enjoying it immensely. About halfway through my back began to bother me. I didn't think too much of it, knowing that folding chairs and my back don't often agree with each other, but as the evening progressed the discomfort turned to actual pain. After the concert was over I got up to visit a bit with folks when I suddenly felt very nauseous and made a mad dash to the restroom where nature took its course. I felt a little better, but still not right, but felt well enough to go back and visit a bit. A few minutes later another mad dash. Now I needed to let my friend, who had driven me to the event, know that I needed to get home. We got home without incident and I then spent the next couple of hours being sick every ten to fifteen minutes. I tried to go to bed. I kept thinking when my stomach was empty I would feel better. Didn't happen. As I was lying in bed I began to realize that what I was feeling wasn't just nausea, but I was having pain and some fairly significant pain in my chest. It was a squeezing pressure kind of feeling. Okay, I am slow, but I realized this wasn't just a stomach flu or something. My stomach was long ago emptied and I was still getting sick. Then there was this strange pain. So I headed to the computer to Google my symptoms and it came up with heart attack or digestive problems. I didnt think it was a heart attack. We have no history of this in the family and my cholesterol is always good and I'd had an EKG before surgery in the fall, but I thought about lots of folks who didnt think they were having a heart attack who actually were. Now I knew I needed medical attention, but I was alone since Jon had been away to the Partner's Conference. By this point he was due home in a half hour or so, so I got dressed, sat on the sofa and waited for him to get home. When he arrived, I let him know the situation and he was preparing to take me to the hospital. That posed two problems. One is our car was not legal to drive since we had been away and the car had missed its inspection and to avoid some of the road tax we had put the car on "vacation" and hadnt finished all the paperwork to get it put back into our name.The second problem was we didnt have a clue where the nearest hospital was and it didnt seem like the time to go wandering all over looking for it. So we looked up the emergency number for Holland and called an ambulance. They arrived in no time and introduced themselves then got down to checking my heart. The EKG showed that all was well and in between getting sick, let them know my other symptoms. The EMT's began to suspect my gallbladder. They knew I was sick enough to need to be seen by the doctor in a nearby city, whom they called. Then instead of putting me in the ambulance and taking me, there began to be a debate of sort between the doctor and the EMT. The EMT said I was too sick to get to the hospital on my own and the doctor wanted me to come there to be seen. For some reason, traveling by ambulance to the hospital was not an option. So in the end, the doctor came to my house. I was tender in the upper right quadrant of my abdomen, had pain in my back and was throwing up, so she concluded it was gallbladder problems. That was it. No x-rays or ultrasound or whatever is used to confirm diagnosis of gallbladder problems. Just an assumption that that was what it was. I did get a "sit pill" for pain and nausea. You can imagine what that is. Told to watch for a fever and to avoid eating any fats for a few days. I took my medication which didnt seem to help any, but perhaps it kept things from getting worse. I spent a sleepless night where I learned not to lie on my left side or that would initiate yet bout of violent illness. By late morning the next day the pain had subsided enough that I was able to sleep. I slept on and off the rest of the day and the next night. I watched my diet and my temperature for the next few days. Ate little the first day and worked my way into some sort of reasonable amount of plain foods. I was quite weak and had little energy for several days. Couldn't even sit at the computer and do emails. Was tender for several days then by the end of the week the tenderness was gone so I began adding some fat into my diet. Amazing how much a bit of fat has to do with flavor. Over several days continued adding foods until I could eat normally. So a week and a half later I feel normal and can eat normally, though I find I am still working on my stamina for things like walking, etc. and I haven't tried biking yet. I wonder what the protocol is for this situation in the States. Probably would have gone to the hospital and I expect there would have been some sort of diagnostic testing. Wonder if surgery would have been done. Probably would have depended on the doctor. I think some or more surgically inclined than others. I am so glad not to have surgery here. I dread the thought of it. But I would not care to have that thing go off again.