Thank you, Sandy!!

Yesterday we said goodbye to one of the best people we have ever known.  Our babysitter, Sandy, passed away at the age of 50 from cancer.  She last watched the boys on January 16.  A week prior to that she had gone to the doctor for some back pain.  They told her she strained a muscle in her back and gave her muscle relaxers to take.  The night of Jan. 16, her back pain got worse and she had trouble breathing.  Her husband took her to the ER and they discovered she had fluid in her lungs.  He called that night and said Sandy couldn't babysit the next day because she had to get the fluid drained off her lungs.  In the meantime, they did a CAT scan.  He called back the next morning and said that Sandy had Stage 4 Liver and Lung cancer.  They went back and forth on what she had while she was in the hospital....all her cancer tests were coming back negative, as well as her infection and pneumonia tests.  However, her lungs continued to fill up with fluid at a rapid pace and they didn't know why or where it came from.  She eventually got put on a ventilator because she couldn't breathe well enough on her own.  They also found out she had liver cancer for sure and it could have spread to many other organs in her body.  She was beyond treatment.  Her family did not want to see her suffer anymore and that was not her wish either, so she was taken off the ventilator yesterday.  All of us were at the hospital and we got to say our goodbyes to her.  She went peacefully, surrounded by many family and friends.  We now have one more angel looking over us!

We are still working on how to tell Landon.  The boys had to start at their new sitter today so we did not want to tell him yesterday.  I just took dinner over to their house tonight for Kevin and the family to eat.  Landon got soooo excited when I mentioned that we had to go to Sandy's.  He knows she isn't there, but he asked me if she was still sick and I told him that yes, she was very sick.  He asked if she was ever coming home and I told him she was not.  Then, he asked if he could just FaceTime with her so that he could see her...it literally broke my heart :(  When people that he loves are not right here with us, we just FaceTime with them so that is what he wanted to do with Sandy.  

Sandy was an amazing woman.  She was my "go to" person here.  She was like a mother to me and also a dear friend and she was soooo wonderful to my boys.  She came to the hospital when Keegan was born, she never missed a birthday party and she took excellent care of them. I never ever worried when I dropped them off because I knew that she would be giving them the same love and care that I would at home. She helped make them in to the wonderful boys that they are.  For that, we will be truly grateful to her and miss her every day.   Thank you so much for everything, Sandy!  We love you always!!!

Here are a couple pics I have of Sandy and the Boys!

At Halloween last year

Holding Keegan when he was 3 weeks old at Landon's 3rd birthday party!

Please keep her husband, children, family and friends in your prayers.