Dive Into Your Imagination

It has been a busy week at the hospital!

On Sunday, Cody, the green sea turtle, underwent laser surgery to remove his fibropapilloma tumors. It was quite an experience to assist with a surgery on a sea turtle!

First, we sedated Cody and took X-rays to determine whether the sea turtle had any internal tumors. Because internal tumors are extremely difficult to remove and the possibility would remain that they would grow back, current veterinary guidelines call for euthanizing the animals that suffer from this condition. I'm happy to report that Dr. Manire found no evidence of these with Cody, so the surgery stayed on schedule!

The surgery was amazing! First, we gave Cody a gaseous anesthetic (a substance that desensitizes patients and makes them sleepy so they feel no discomfort or pain during a surgery). Dr. Manire used a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser to remove the tumors. This kind of laser is an invisible beam of light, produced by the "excitement" of CO2 molecules. The beam targets water, so that any tissue containing water will absorb the laser energy. This causes the tumors to heat up and vaporize! The benefits of using a CO2 laser instead of regular surgery is that these lasers are capable of sealing capillaries, blood vessels and nerve endings, which results in very little bleeding! Mote is very lucky because it is one of a few marine animal facilities in the U.S. that have this technology.

My job during the surgery was to "suck up" laser fumes using a suction device (kind of like a larger version of the ones at the dentist's office). The procedure lasted for several hours, and when it was all over, we sat with Cody for another couple of hours until the anesthetic wore off (turtles must be conscious in the water so that they can surface to breathe). At the end of the day, Cody was returned to his tank looking like a completely different sea turtle! Check out these before and after photos:

I am so thrilled to announce that Cody has already made tremendous progress! He swims more easily, he is eating all of his food, and it appears that his sight is returning in his right eye! It is such a treat to see that the care he is receiving is making him happier and healthier. I am so glad I get to be a part of his rehabilitation and hope he continues to improve!

On another "turtle" note… This week, I was lucky enough to witness a baby green sea turtle hatching from its egg! Of course, I had to keep my distance from the youngster, so as not to transmit the fibropapilloma virus, but it was still a wonderful experience from afar! Mote has a sea turtle research and conservation program, and during hatchling season, Mote has its own hatchling hospital! Here, eggs are able to hatch in a monitored and safe environment, and the tiny turtles are released at beach nesting sites at night. While some of the young turtles are still preyed upon, this process gives these endangered species a greater chance to make the journey from nest to ocean by giving them time to grow and get stronger.

Check out this little one! After he cracked his egg shell, he flailed his flippers about for several minutes and finally squeezed his way out. He tumbled to the sand looking chubby and balled up - sometime after hatching, these turtles tend to stretch out and lose their "ball shape." They also have an embryonic sac on their stomachs (which delivers nutrients), and over time, their tiny bodies absorb the sac. Then they are on their own to fend for themselves!

This week was exciting because I really felt like my work at Mote was making a difference. Not only was I able to help give an injured and diseased sea turtle a new "outlook on life," but I was able to share in a baby sea turtle's first steps out of his shell! If Mote can do this for two sea turtles in one week, just think how many sea turtles we can save in a month… and even in a year! When people work together to save endangered species, we really can make a difference!

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