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A typical day

In by 6am to see the patients you operated on yesterday, then straight to the first case. A lumbar fusion takes three hours; a brain tumor can take eight. You stand the whole time, looking through a microscope, in silence apart from asking for instruments. Afternoon is clinic, where most of what you do is tell people they do not need surgery. Evening rounds, then the trauma page goes off at 11pm for a head injury, and you are back in the building.