Back in the summer of 2013, Rachael and her family went on vacation at Spooner's Cove, CA. Rachael's son, Paul, took a fall on the beach and got a minor scrape on his knee. Assuming it was nothing serious, Rachael covered the scrape with some medicine and slapped a Band-Aid on top. But one week later, Paul took a tumble while ice skating and reopened the wound. That's when his knee turned red and swollen.
Rachael took Paul to the doctor and was told he had a staph infection. They cleared him of any viruses and put him on antibiotics. And just when the scab was clearing up, Paul fell on his knee again. But this time, Rachael knew something just wasn't right as dark puss began oozing from his knee. Despite the doctor's instructions not to, Rachael decided she needed to drain the wound.
Rachael squeezed the gash and realized something hard was emerging. At first, she thought it was rock — but upon closer inspection, she discovered it was a small sea snail! A living, breathing "littorina scutulata" snail, which lives lower on rocks and migrates up and down rocks with the tide. This is what was living inside her son's knee the whole time.
In the video below, (not for the squeamish, but still fascinating) Rachael describes the crazy debacle with a surprising amount of lightheartedness and humor. Hey, guess it could've been worse.
Paul's dad, Ken, thinks the snail entered his leg after that first fall on the beach, assuming he landed on a nest of snail eggs.
But the story doesn't end there. Paul kept the snail and named it Turbo. Turbo was moved to a fishbowl alongside the family's pet beta fish, Dory. No, seriously.
Note: This video contains material that may be disturbing to some viewers.
