The rewrite is no less gruesome, it is just clearer in the way it is arranged and some vocab changes. Also, I did change some of the imagery a little but it was a good 1st draft in how visceral it was before the proofread.
I'm older, and I hope, a better editor of my own work than I was at the age of 27 when this was originally written. I can't remember exactly what I changed in the re-write now. Lol,and it was only ten days ago, but I do remember that when I read it with my internal dialogue switched off, like someone who had never read it before or knew what it alluded to, there were parts that weren't quite clear.
So I focused on tightening them up :)