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kgould's picture

 In Oliver Sack's book, An

 In Oliver Sack's book, An Anthropologist on Mars, he writes of many different cases that he has looked into, but the one that came to mind while we had class on Tuesday was "A Surgeon's Life." It details the case of a surgeon and amateur pilot with Tourette's syndrome. 

I know, it sounds absurd and terrifying at first, like something Kurt Vonnegut would write about. A surgeon with Tourette's? No thanks.

But the thing is, once Dr Carl Bennet (the surgeon) starts surgery, his tics disappear. While cutting, snipping, and sewing, he shoes no signs of Tourette's.

At home, Dr Bennet is at times compelled to poke at a brick wall up to 500 times, all at once. The wall is pock marked and worn. The fridge is dented and bent-- he throws frying pans and pots at it. He can't study in the living room because he has to poke the lamp next to his chair. 

But when he is in the OR, sterilized and ready to remove a cancerous tumor from a woman's breast, he is fluid, graceful, and quick. 

I've tried to wonder what roles CPGs play in all of this, but I am not familiar enough with Tourette's to draw any conclusions.

Any ideas?

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