December 2, 2021. Mara passed away peacefully this day. You can see her obituary at this link (
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/west-des-moines-ia/mara-smith-10472332). She will be deeply missed by her entire family andn all of her friends. Thank you for following her journey.
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January 2017. What a warm winter. I didn't know then what I wish I didn't know now. I had to make dinner but needed the restroom a minute,there was a little blood in my stool. I didn't think much of it except I'd eaten too many prunes that morning, but I'm no doctor and it seemed a valid reason at the moment. After a day or two I was working. I care for an elderly couple who I've been with for 21 years and recently the wife's health care needs had changed quite a bit so life had changed dramatically for them and for myself in caring for them in their house. I wasn't feeling so great. I had stomach ache and seemed to need to go eliminate more often that day. By the end of the day I was gassy and had some loose bowels that day then I saw blood in my stool again.
I decided the blood in my stool wasn't right and when it didn't improve started to see a doctor. They had me add fibre to my diet but that didn't improve things. I went through a couple of months of return visits and other ideas (stress, anxiety, caffeine). A colonoscopy was suggested in March and April, and May, June, but I put that off until this past week. I had a hundred reasons for putting it off.
I waited until I was extremely sick. Now I have cancer.
I hope you will do two things. Please pray for me and my family. And don't YOU wait on getting to the doctor and getting a colonoscopy. I wish I hadn't waited.
