#toy turtle

The other super sized patient I wanted to share with you from the recent large visitors to the hospital was a turtle. As some of you may know, either from older posts or close observation of some of the photos, I have two water turtles. They're both female, both 25 years old, and they still lay eggs. :-) Anyway, so I have a soft spot for turtles, and there's even a collection of stuffed animal turtles on top of my turtles' tank. But none of those turtles match the size of the visitor to the hospital earlier this month!

Turtle actually had a pretty cool story. Here is what her person first wrote:

Hello To Whom It May Concern,

I am looking to get a childhood stuffed animal healed, I was pushed to donate it years ago when my family moved and by a twist of fate, recently ended up working at the institution it was donated to. It's been a few years since the donation and in that time, kids have done a number on it. I have since gotten it back this past week after the people I donated it to no longer had need of it and would like to see it fixed up. It is an about three foot long and foot wide green sea turtle that needs to be cleaned up, have stuffing fixed up and replaced, and have new eyes put it.

Well, the first step, as always, was for me to see the turtle, and photos work well. Unfortunately, she was still in plastic to protect her (and her new home) from anything she might have caught in her years away, so there was an older photo of her, and then her bagged. :-\

It was enough to see her issues (lack of stuffing, blindness) and approximate size. We agreed a spa and new eyes would be the best treatment, and any small wounds not visible in the photos would get sewn up as well.

Fortunately, her person was only about an hour away, so he could bring her in person (for contactless drop off) because given her size, travel could have far exceeded treatment cost!

She started with unstuffing and a spa. No spa photos because when patients are that big, their spa photos just look like a pile of fabric, especially if there are no eyes as in Turtle's case.

Once dry and partially restuffed, it was time to choose a style for her new eyes. Here were the three options:

Her person chose the last... a plastic eye with felt backing and lid. So her vision was restored and restuffing continued (it takes a LOT of stuffing for a patient her size). Here's her heart with original stuffing going in:

And here are the first photos to judge chubbiness (so she had open seams so I could adjust):

Her person said she should be strong/dense enough to hold the weight of an adult human, so I added more stuffing, closed her up, and she was ready to go home. While she waited for her human to come get her, she made friends with one of my turtles:

You can really see how big she is here! My turtle is about 10" long.

Turtle went home and is now happily ensconced back with her original family and friends:

I thought I’d make your Januaries a bit more interesting and introduce you to one of the less common patients I’ve had, a Blue Meanie of Yellow Submarine fame!  This Blue Meanie was from a family that had sent a frog (Froggie) to the hospital in the past for some minor clothing and eyelid repair.  Blue Meanie and his friend the turtle were new adoptees, who needed a touch more help.

Here is Blue Meanie’s diagnosis photos:

As you can see, he had a small nose wound, and his shoes were disintegrating.  He also had some hand injuries.  Since Blue Meanie is mostly felt, we agreed to avoid the water of a spa (too much risk of dye running and shrinkage).  Instead, his person opted to recover his shoes and stitch his other injuries.  Here he is, all better and ready to fly home:

Now the Blue Meanies may be meanies, but this one had a friend!  An elderly turtle who had a small neck injury, and really needed a swim in some bubbles!

Here are the turtle’s diagnosis photos:

Here he is enjoying his first swim in years:

He looks happy getting the back massage of water, doesn’t he?  He got a new heart of original stuffing, and lots of new stuffing.  I went for  a watery blue and pink heart so he’d always have some water.

The new stuffing, and some extra neck stitches, meant he was soon holding his head up proudly again, and his colors were nice and bright after his swim:

You’ve all seen me post before about replacing patients’ eyes.  The eyes come out because of washer incidents, or pet attacks and I put new safety eyes in, or reinstall the originals if possible.  This red panda was here this week for eye and nose reinstall:

And here he is ready to go home yesterday:

20/20 vision and perfect smell! 

Some patients, however, have different types of eyes that can’t just be replaced or reinstalled.  This winter I had a couple patients whose plastic googly eyes were replaced with cloth eyes so they would not only have 20/20 vision, but would be safer for babies.  First was Cookie Monster. His person’s spouse wrote:

I am looking to get my husbands Cookie Monster toy repaired. Right now it has hard plastic eyes, and one of them is broken. (I have attached photos) I was wondering if it is possible to have the plastic eyes removed completely and be replaced with plush eyes. This was his favorite childhood toy and I'd like it to be repaired for our future child. Please let me know if this is possible and the price.

This is actually a fairly common email except for the eyes.  Many people send animals to the hospital to be spruced up for the next generation.  We agreed Cookie Monster would have a spa and new eyes.  Here he is on arrival in January:

Of course, he started with a bubble bath:

New stuffing is a must for patients going to the next generation, but he kept a bit of his original stuffing in a heart:

Then it was on to all new soft eyes:

His family wrote:

He looks great! Love the eyes! Thank you  again so much for your work, I can't wait to surprise my husband with him :)

p.s. his original eyes went back home with him.  His family wanted them for sentimental reasons. :-)

Now Cookie Monster’s cloth eyes weren’t the only ones this winter.  I also had a visit from a turtle who’d lost an eye.  His original was flat, and felt, so that’s what his new eye is too.  He is over 50 years old and wanted to be presentable not to a new child, but to a new grandchild!  So, he also had a spa.  Here’s his arrival photo:

And here he is clean, able to hold his head up, and with 20/20 vision again:

His person wrote:

Isn’t that a perfect name for a turtle, Tupelo?

Well, Tupelo the Turtle came to the hospital a couple of weeks ago from Tennessee for a spa and some wound repair.  Here he is on arrival meeting my teddy bear:

The little guy with him is Owlaween.  Yet another wonderful name.  I think Tupelo’s people could hire out as namers.  :-)  Tupelo and Owlaween were attached by a bungee leash, so they didn’t lose each other on the flight to CA.  They also had glow sticks so it didn’t get too dark in their box.

Tupelo was wearing the bandana in part because he had seam pop neck injury.  He also had a small tush tear.  Here’s his before photo:

Now please pay attention to his white areas, which are gray in that photo.  Also, note the brown on his head, which shouldn’t be there.

I don’t have spa photos of Tupelo because his people specifically asked that none be posted, and the best way for me to remember that was to not take any.  They didn’t want to see him unstuffed.  But he did have a spa, and all of a sudden there were not brown spot sand his gray turned white!  You’ll see, but first, here’s the heart he got with a bit of original stuffing.  Turquoise to go with his green and blue:

The real trick with Tupelo’s treatment was his post operative care.  His wounds stitched up nicely, and he got nice and clean, and I sent these photos to his people:

Can we please see a profile and him sitting, they asked.  We think his neck is too stiff.  Two more photos (near the cold blooded turtles in the tank in the hospital).  Tupelo made friends. :-)

Yep, definitely too much stuffing!  Said his people.  His neck should be bendy and he looks a bit too fat in the shell, more sea turtle less box turtle please.

A bit of adjusting and the next photos flew across the country (digitally speaking).  His chest stayed open for adjustments (he’s sitting near Baby the Puffalump, who was getting lined):

“Closer,” was the response from TN, “But still a bit too fat.  And can he bend his flippers?  We want them stuffed but bendy, if that makes sense.”

Next adjustments.  Take out some stuffing, shift some stuffing, a bit of compression therapy:

Look how white that stripe is! :-)

Almost there was the response.  A little less shell stuffing maybe?  

And here he is all better, ready to go home!

Perfect! “Time to break out the party hats!” said his family.

Tupelo and Owlaween flew home (with their leash and bandana and glow sticks.  Here’s what their family said:

You have been above and beyond amazing taking care of Tupelo! (and us as well)We're so excited to have those guys home it's ridiculous.

Tupelo looks amazing! We can't thank you enough.

I've always wanted a turtle but my parents are against it saying its bad luck. 

Whatdyaknow, mom gave me a toy turtle.