If you're present when a family member takes his or her final breaths, one of the tasks that you'll need to perform upon your loved one's passing is to call the crematorium with which you previously made your direct cremation arrangements. As you wait for someone to come pick up your family member's body, you may wish to make some initial preparations. Jewelry will not survive the cremation process, which means that you might wish to retrieve the person's wedding band. Unfortunately, some peoples' digits swell when they're ill, and this may make simply sliding the ring off the finger difficult. Here are some strategies that you can employ.
Elevate The Hand
As a person's health weakens, his or her body isn't often able to pump blood out of the extremities and back to the heart. This can cause swelling in the hands and feet, which may make it difficult for you to remove the person's wedding band before the body is collected for cremation. To encourage the blood to flow out of your loved one's fingers and thus reduce the swelling, you can elevate the person's hand by either holding it up or placing it on a stack of pillows. Often, this position will be enough that you can remove the ring and save it from cremation.
Cool The Finger
Parts of the human body shrink as they cool, which means that applying cold to your loved one's ring finger can often shrink it enough to allow you to slip off the ring before the crematory staff members arrive to pick up the body. An ice pack or even some ice cubes wrapped in a cloth and pressed tightly against the person's finger can do the trick here.
Use Lubrication
Either as a strategy on its own, or in conjunction with the above methods, the use of lubrication can be valuable for removing a loved one's wedding ring before cremation. You can apply hand cream, oil, or anything else with a slick texture to the person's finger, making sure to work the substance beneath the wedding band. Then, you can slowly pull the wedding band toward the tip of the finger. Sometimes, rotating it as you pull can help to propel it forward. These methods aren't only useful after a person has passed. If a person's death appears imminent and you don't want the jewelry to be lost during cremation, you can take these steps.
For more information, contact companies like APlus Cremation.
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