Amy Elizabeth Morgan

When I was eight years old I broke my neck in gymnastics. Until that point I was very active from Ballet, to tap, I was in some kind of lesson almost every night. After I broke my neck everything changed, I went from being active to having to stay in bed and having horrible headaches. Not really ideal for an eight year old. I started again weight and being from a family who struggled with weight the pounds just kept piling on.

My biggest fear is to be like my grandmother, when she died she weighted over 700 lbs and hadn’t really been out of the house for 7 years. I sometimes have nightmares about not being able to get through the doors of my house and people having to come in and cut the doorways bigger. It’s awful living with that fear.

I became a vegan on March 3, 2010, three months before my 30^th birthday, because I wanted to be healthy in my 30s. So far I’ve lost 60 lbs but I still weigh 246 lbs and I am 5’3. Yep, that makes my bmi at 45%. I hate that. I feel like I am working so hard to lose weight and I am losing the battle.

I decided back in July of 2011 that I was definitely going to have bariatric surgery and after some research I’ve decided to have Lap-Band. I was trying to get the surgery in before the end of the 2011 but group my insurance wanted me to see wouldn’t even see me. My company went to a new insurance at the in 2012 and thankful the doctors that were recommended before are no longer on my list.  I feel like it was for the best because I called the Saint Anthony Medical Center Bariatric Program and had an appointment within days after the call. Within a week I had all my consults. It’s been pretty fast and I excited. I am a little nervous about being a vegan and going through the process. I am sure once I’ve actually meet with my Nutritionist and created a plan I’ll be fine but right now that’s my biggest worry. I would love any advice.