Sibling Assignment 2018.9 I Spent Homecoming at Home....Throwing Up

Bill gave us this Sibling Assignment:  When we were in high school, we had Homecoming every fall. Write about something you recall about one of your three high school homecomings whether it’s a football game, a dance, a pep rally/bonfire, or anything else.

You can find Christy's post here and Bill's post is here.

 

This is the KHS Pep Band my senior year in high school.  I should have played in the pep band during the Homecoming Game, and marched in the Marching Band during the Homecoming Game my senior year in high school.  But I didn't, because I was home sick....throwing up.

The Homecoming I remember most is the one I didn’t attend.  It was the homecoming game my senior year.  I didn’t attend because I was sick.

I was a busy girl my senior year.  I was Pep Club President, which meant I was in charge of a lot of activities during homecoming week.  I was in Pep Band.  I was a student council officer.  I was a National Honor Society officer.  I was working on a piece or two for Drama competition, and was probably in the fall play as well. 

I was not getting along with the boy who I had been dating since spring of our sophomore year , and that relationship would soon come to an end.

And the day of homecoming, I had to stay home from school.  Because I had started throwing up.

This wasn’t the first time.  The first time was during my junior year in high school.  It wouldn’t happen a lot, but every so often I would have about a 24 hour period where I would throw up.  The only relief I would get from it was sitting in a warm bath with a washcloth on my stomach.

I remember the summer between my junior and senior year, I think I went to the doctor.  There was nothing conclusive determined about my symptoms.

At one point, I thought I was having an adverse reaction to pork, because this happened one time after having a meal of pork chops.  But I don’t think that was the cause.

Looking back now on my junior and senior year in high school, I believe I was dealing with anxiety, and this was the way my body was reacting to the anxiety in my life.

I didn’t have panic attacks.  I don’t remember feeling anxious necessarily.  Instead, my body’s reaction to the multiple things going on in my life was throwing up.

And that is how I spent my day and night when the Kellogg Wildcats played their homecoming football game in the fall of 1980.  I was home in a nice warm bathtub, trying to relax and keep myself from throwing up.

We didn’t talk as much about anxiety and depression back when I was in high school.  I am sure many of us were dealing with things, but I don’t think we knew what it was.  I remember one of my friends sharing how every day after school she would go home and need to nap.  She believes this was a result of a type of depression she was experiencing.

I am not sure I ever had another bout of anxiety induced vomiting after homecoming night.  But I think some of the things causing my anxiety went away that fall.  But it wasn’t until later in life that I realized what may have been the actual cause of those bouts of throwing up during my years in high school.