Extras · 1 of 4

A typical day

Morning rounds through the dialysis unit, checking on 20 to 30 patients hooked to machines that clean their blood for four hours at a time. Then hospital consults: a patient in the ICU (intensive care unit) whose kidneys have stopped, a potassium level that could stop a heart. Afternoon clinic for people with slowly failing kidneys, transplant recipients, and stubborn high blood pressure. A kidney biopsy or two a week. On call, a machine can page you at any hour.