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A typical day

Morning clinic: asthma that will not settle, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in a lifelong smoker, a strange shadow on a chest X-ray, a truck driver who falls asleep at red lights. You read breathing tests and CT (computed tomography) scans and adjust inhalers. Midday: two or three bronchoscopies, threading a camera into the lungs to biopsy a spot. Afternoon consults on the wards. Some weeks you are the ICU (intensive care unit) doctor instead, managing ventilators around the clock.