Italian Woman Preps 90 Stuffed Olives, a Regional Specialty, During Open Brain Surgery
An Italian woman was awake and pitting olives while surgeons operated on her brain. She was having a tumor removed from her left temporal lobe. That is the part of the brain that controls speech as well as movement on the left side of the body.
The reason she was awake was because the surgeons needed to ensure she did not lose her ability for rapid hand movement so she selected an activity that is important to her to do. The surgeon has done this before. One time he needed to make sure the patient did not lose their vision so he made them watch cartoons during surgery. He has also had people play the violin, play the trombone and sing during surgery.
By the way, she not only pitted the olives, she stuffed them with meat and cheese and then carefully rolled them over bread crumbs. She made 90 during surgery.