Cleaning bones of the living

One of the most memorable pet commissions I got, was to clean the bones of a pet dog... that was still alive! The tail of the dog got stuck between a door and didn’t heal properly afterwards, resulting in necrotizing tissue and the last part of the tail had to be amputated. The owners didn’t want to throw away a piece of their dog, so they asked me to preserve the bones. This story isn’t stand-alone when it comes to cleaning the bones of amputated limbs – the following story is about a human.

A woman came to me with the question to clean her bone, a femoral head that had to be taken out due to a hip replacement. Her reasoning was very understandable: she didn't want a piece of her to be thrown out as medical waste. She wants to be buried whole when her time comes. I am honored that I was able to help in fulfilling this wish by preserving her bone.