Snail Hatches Out Of Cut On Boy’s Knee, Reminds Me Parenting Sucks

Okay, parenting does not suck. But having to be the person who deals with stuff like this sucks. A black snail emerged from a cut on a 4-year-old boys knee and who do you think had to deal with it? His mother, of course. Please God, Goddess or whatever other divine source exists in the world – do not let this happen on my watch.

4-year-old Paul Franklin of Aliso Viejo, California fell and cut his knee on a rock while playing at the beach. It became swollen, so his mom, Rachel, took him to urgent care to have it looked at. The doctor told her that her son had a staph infection and sent them home with antibiotics.

After the course of antibiotics, Rachel noticed that her son’s knee wasn’t getting better – it was actually starting to turn black. She took it upon herself to lance his knee and drain it, and a small black snail emerged. A snail. In a shell. The boy named the snail, Turbo. His father believes when he fell on the rock he fell on a nest of snail eggs and one forced its way into the cut.

Now, it’s great the family can be all giggly about it and keep the snail as a pet, but I would have freaked the hell out. Realistically this never would have happened on my watch because I am notoriously bad at dealing with childhood injuries and would never lance my swollen child’s knee.

This may not trump Eve Vawter’s maggot story, but anytime a living thing crawls out of the body – I am going to freak out, mom or not. My child pulled a waterbug out of his mouth a few weeks ago, and both my husband and I stayed up wide-eyed and rocking – totally disturbed by the scene. I am not equipped to handle things hatching out of cuts on my child’s body.

Not equipped.

(photo: Paul Yates/ Shutterstock)