Hi everyone! My name is Margie...I became an ileostomate in August 2016 after having UC for 21 years. I chose to make my ileostomy permanent since I felt sooo much better and had my rectum removed in November 2016. I am a registered nurse/educator and have been practicing in the central Kentucky region for 33 years. I am currently finishing my doctorate and my project is the creation of an ostomate-to-ostomate support group called OstoCats (I work for the University of Kentucky, hence the "cats" reference). The focus of my capstone will be assessing resiliency and ostomy adaptation in fecal diversion patients. I found that our community lacked the aftercare support for new ostomates and I desire to help others on their path to wellness. I am married to a Canadian originally from Campbellford, Ontario. I love to tournament bass fish with my husband and have recently been able to return to the sport since my stoma creation. I have two grown daughters, but no grandchildren yet. A big thank you to Eric for being such a valuable resource to me after my ileostomy. I cannot thank you enough!