First off, I have decided that all my grey hairs are going to make me a very distinguished 40 yr old when I get there. I am telling you, there is a new one every few weeks. Now then, on to business! I have learned in the last many weeks that things don't work the same way they used to before March, and I have learned this in different ways. I decided about week 4-5 that I was ready to slow things down a bit with my loperamide. That was a bad choice. See, without those organs, the muscles don't work the same way, and boy, that was a long, painful lesson. I literally hurt/strained my pelvic floor muscles, just trying to go. I also learned my abdomen plays a bigger part now, too (thankfully I still have phenomenal abs! incision or no incision).  As for the incision where they closed the ostomy at, they stitched the inside and taped the outside shut with steri-strips. Which I am allergic to, by the way. That was fun! 🙄 Nothing like itching like a mad woman around an incision. Once the strips were removed, over the next few weeks, my anxiety reached some interesting levels as the thing kept opening wider and wider. I guess that was to be expected, just no one told me 😂. It heals from the inside out, similar to the large incision from the first surgery. So when I went from a Harry Potter scar on my tummy to looking like a stabbing victim, of course it was a little scary. I kept telling Jay those first weeks I was a wizard and had the scar to prove it 🤣. At about 5 weeks, I could finally tell it was healing and closing up. Now it looks great, completely shut in some places and maybe a 1/4 inch where it was at its widest point. It pulled apart so much because they remove skin when they do the ostomy and now there is less skin to close it with. I am hoping my abdomen will normalize a bit after healing and you won't see the new funky shape on the one side. If not, oh well! My scars and how my abdomen looks are the least of my worries. This week has been a much better week, I made some good changes to how I sleep and my expectations of sleep and how much time it will take for now to get the required amount of sleep so my brain functions and mommy doesn't grow horns. I am still working on getting enough protein every day or at least keeping food going through my system so I don't have so many peaks and falls all day long. Gravity hasn't been as big an issue as I thought it would be but there is the urge to go about every time I stand up, that gets a little annoying. I hold off when I can to stretch the pouch and help me normalize more. I am far from normal but I am functioning enough I can go to town and run errands. We even go to a life group every week now, another step back to typical life.