Good Bye Sandy

Sandy Teeples, one of my moms best friends, passed away this evening.  Sandy is the one standing closest to my mom.  She was such a nice person.  Her husband Ron passed away 3 months after dad passed away.  Sandy lived in California, but mom and her have always been close.  She is 1 of the 5 friends that mom grew up with in Idaho. There is mom, Elaine, Sue Rampton, Sandy (Teeney), and Sandra Jo.  There was also Trudy but she got married young and didn't go to BYU and BYU Hawaii with the rest.  These ladies have stayed close even though they all didn't live close to each other.  Mom and Sandy started traveling together. It was nice for both of them because they knew each other pretty well, they liked each other, and there husbands had both passed.  About a year and a half ago Sandy got diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.  She had the very intensive surgery done, called the WHIP, I believe.  She was doing pretty good after taking a bit to recover from the surgery. This picture was taken in May when she came out to help decorate for Rebecca's wedding.  She looked great, seemed great, and was as cute as ever.  The week after this picture though, she had gone to the doctor and her numbers were up, meaning there was cancer somewhere.  She opted with the encouragement of her 2 kids to get some different Chemo done.   She had been doing that since this summer. I know she came out this summer to Park City with her family and had pictures taken at that time of her family and a few of the friends (Kate Turley took the pictures).  I am sad she had to suffer.  Near the end it got pretty bad. It was about a week ago she decided along with the doctors to stop the chemo.  Her mouth was full of soars and her stomach was full of cancer growths.  Sue called me tonight to tell me.  Luckily Sue and Sandra Jo had flown out yesterday to be with her.  Mom is, at the moment on a flight from Santiago Chile to New York. She arrives home tomorrow at 4. She doesn't know yet.  Sandy and Mom both knew there was a possibility that she might pass away while mom was on her trip to Antarctica, but Sandy wanted mom to go. They said their goodbyes but Sandy was wanting to hold on till mom got there.  I am sad for mom. I am sad to tell her, I am sad for the sadness she will feel.  I am sad that mom and her friends are having to start this stage, but it just seems like they are all still young.  We really liked Sandy. She played with the kids and she found joy in our kids.  We would always spend time with her when she would come to visit.  She will be missed. Now, she is out of pain and with her hubby.