I went to a local musical a couple of weeks ago to see one of my favorite people in the world, Shannon, as she sang and danced her way through Pirates of Penzance. I sat next to her little brother, Cooper, also one of my favorites. Cooper is very hands on, shall we say, preferring to sit as near you as possible, usually just short of sitting on you. So the minute the musical starts, he scoots over, leans his little mohawked head against me, and then for some reason begins squeezing my upper arm. Not sure what started it exactly, but he was very enthusiastic. Felt as if he was trying to plump up my arm like a couch cushion. After a couple of minutes, Cooper looked up at me and said "This is just like a hot squishy pillow". Then he went back to leaning and squeezing.
Normally I would not enjoy being compared to anything hot or squishy or pillow-like, but this was different - the reason behind the squishiness is weight loss (plus it came from Cooper, who was just happy to have a good place to rest his head during his third viewing of Pirates of Penzance). And anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight knows that sometimes things snap back, and sometimes they don't. In the case of my upper arms, I'm sorry to report that all snap has left the building (if I could run while flapping my arms, I'm positive I could get one, maybe two feet off the ground). There are ways to deal with the extra skin issue - my doctor told me to do all I can to increase the circulation in my skin, and to moisturize heavily. And I can't say enough about Spanx. But the reality is that I will need plastic surgery at some point. I hate going under the knife, and it aggravates me that I let my weight be so out of control for so long. The good news is that they are making great strides in that type of surgery. I'm hoping by the time I need it, they can insert a drawstring into the top of my head and just pull.
So I will happily put up with the skin problem. And to all the kids in my life, the well-padded Aunt Suzy is on her way out. But never fear- I'm getting Grandma Jan to sew up some pillows in the shape of my flabby upper arms, just to help you with the transition.
