Woman Makes Stuffed Olives While Undergoing Brain Surgery

A 60-year-old woman from Italy prepared dozens of stuffed olives while undergoing brain surgery. As doctors removed a brain tumor from her left temporal lobe, the unnamed patient whipped up 90 of the breaded-and-fried olives in a makeshift kitchen inside the operating room. The doctor who performed the surgery at the Riuniti Hospital in Ancona said keeping the woman engaged in a familiar activity helped protect brain functions such as speech and memory. “For her, we needed rapid hand movements,” said neurosurgeon Roberto Trignani. “[It] allows us to monitor the patient while we work on their brain functions and to calibrate our action.” He added that, in this case, the procedure “went very well.” The patient made 90 “Ascoli-style” green olives — served stuffed with meat and coated in fried breadcrumbs — over the course of an hour, said Trignani, who has performed the surgery on more than 60 people.