When her four-year-old son’s cut wasn’t getting better, a mother took matters into her own hands and found the root of the problem – a sea snail.
During a family vacation in central California, Paul Franklin fell and cut his knee at a beach. Paul’s mother, Rachael Franklin cleaned the wound and applied a bandage, according to a report by the Orange County Register.
A week later, Paul re-opened the wound after a fall while he was ice skating. This time his dad, Ken Franklin cleaned the cut and re-bandaged it. One day later, however, the little boy’s knee was swollen and hot, so Rachael took him to the emergency room, said the report.
Paul was prescribed 10-days’ worth of antibiotics. The medicine seemed to be doing the trick, but one small lump was still there. Doctors advised Rachael to leave to alone, and let the antibiotics continue to work.
After reaching the end of the pills, Paul’s knee still was not well.
“I know the doctor didn’t want to drain this,” she remembers telling herself, “but this sucker needs to be drained!”
After squeezing Paul’s knee, a little black rock came out. After careful inspection, Rachael discovered the rock was actually a tiny sea snail that had been living in her son’s knee.
Paul’s knee finally recovered and the snail was kept as a pet. It was placed in a fishbowl with the family’s beta fish, “Dory.” Paul decided to name the snail “Turbo.”
