April and Casey were startled by the appearance of the turtles as they flew through the portal and into the med bay. Raph placed the newcomer onto the closest bed as Donnie and Leo worked to stabilize them. Donnie connected a heart-rate monitor then inserted an IV and hooked them up to a saline bag before running to the emergency blood fridge in the corner.
"I didn't find any spinal injuries. We need to patch up the sources of the bleeding before we can do anything else. Mikey, help me roll them on their side." Leo instructed.
The two carefully rolled them into the recovery position and Mikey continued to hold them up to avoid putting additional pressure on the injuries. Exposing the new turtle's back, they now saw that the leathery skin of their soft shell had multiple deep gouges. April jumped in with a large towel and started applying pressure to the bleeding wounds.
"Another turtle!?" April turned to look at Leo beside her.
"It would appear so. We can talk about all that when their stable." Leo replied, pulling out a suturing kit. His normal all-jokes attitude was replaced by the far more serious medic-Leo mode.
Donnie replaced the saline with the blood bag and started the transfusion. There were a few tense moments of silence as they waited to see improvement before continuing. With the bleeding wounds covered and additional blood going through the IV, they saw the heart-rate slow and blood pressure steadily climb.
"Alright, let's close these up." Leo stated, then helped April move the towel to uncover just one wound at a time.
The others watched quietly as Leo began stitching up the open wounds and Donnie set up the mobile x-ray. Casey helped by dressing the gashes with gauze and tape after Leo finished the sutures.
Once Leo was done and the bandages were placed, they rolled the stranger onto their back. Donnie took a series of x-rays with Leo's guidance on places of concern he had from his initial assessment, then pulled them up on a monitor.
"I know I'm not an expert or anything, but our shells usually show up on x-ray, right?" Raph asked as they all stood looking at the films.
"No, you're right. Even my softshell has bone under the skin that shows up. All I'm seeing is these rib-like bones, but no carapace like ours." Donnie confirmed, pointing at the screen.
"Oh! I just googled it! Leatherback turtles are unique as their 'osteoderm is composed of bony plates that are interconnected with collagen fibers in a structure called suture'." Mikey piped up, reading from his phone.
Donnie looked over his shoulder at the website. "Does it say what the bony plates are made of? If it was actually bone, it would show up."
"Cartilage-like material and collagen? It isn't really clear."
"Well, cartilage doesn't show up on x-rays, so that at least clears that up." Donnie nodded to himself.
"That aside, I'm seeing multiple fractures here." Leo said, changing the subject back to the stranger's condition as he pointed out bones on the films. "We don't need to do anything about these ribs, but this leg and wrist definitely need attention."
"You mean they have been walking around on a broken leg this whole time?" April asked, vocalizing everyone's surprise.
"Fractured, not broken, but yeah. Thankfully it's a hairline fracture, which you can usually walk on without causing more damage. Still painful though. We'll have to cast it."
"And you said that wrist?" Raph clarified, pointing.
"Yeah, their right hand is pretty messed up. Looks like a couple small fractures in the hand then one big break in the wrist. I can do the wrist if someone else wants to cast the leg at the same time."
"I can." Casey volunteered immediately.
"Also, their other ankle is sprained if someone wants to wrap that." Leo added, having reassessed them as they talked.
"Got it!" Mikey grabbed a roll of elastic bandage to apply a compression wrap.
Donnie adjusted the IV drip as the others bandaged, adding morphine into the mix to control pain.
And so the group patched up the stranger as a team, anxiously waiting for them to wake up. All curious for answers about their mysterious existence.
Website Referenced: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1742706115301173
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The Last Turtle Yokai
FanfictionIt's been a year since the Kraang invasion attempt and our favourite turtle family have recovered their physical wounds. Mental, however? They've been better, but are on the mend. Life has become quiet in the absence of the Foot Clan and they haven'...
