I might have asked this already (my phone is crap) but....how about John having congenital pain insensitivity?
Pain is a very important sense. It lets us know when something is wrong. If a bone is broken or a tooth is infected of the tea you’re about to drink is way too hot. It protects us from hurting ourselves or hurting ourselves further.
Without pain, life would be relatively difficult for John.
The first few years though, would be great for his parents. John didn’t cry when he was teething. Or when he fell a lot when learning how to walk. Even when he got bruises.
The issues started to be noticeable when he was a kid. On the playground, he’d never notice when he scrapped his knee. Or how painful it was to fall from the monkey bars. Or the fact that he broke a teeth on his dismount from the swings. He only panicked when he saw the blood.
At home, the same would happen. He’d touch a boiling kettle and although his finger blistered, he didn’t even sniffle. Didn’t notice. Or when he got a big bruise on his face from falling while playing on the stairs. The teachers at his school thought he was being abused. His parents thought he was clumsy.
It wasn’t until some time in primary school where his parents got concerned. When his mum was undressing him for his bath, she noticed his foot was grotesquely swollen and purple. John didn’t notice. It didn’t hurt!
A visit to A&E confirmed his ankle was shattered. The doctors were puzzled as to how the 8 year old boy wasn’t screaming in agony the whole time. His parents blurted out something about him never showing that he felt pain.
After a surgery to fix his ankle, the doctors looked into John’s seemingly superior pain tolerance. They tried a lot of tests on him. Pokes with needles and ice on his skin amongst other things. John never flinched, winced or yelped. If he was looking away, he said all he felt was a touch. Pressure at most. Never pain.
He gets sent home with the “Congenital Pain Insensitivity” diagnosis. It’s under studied, barely understood and with no cure or treatment. It is a relatively new diagnosis at the time.
All the family is told to do is to do nightly checks of John. Check his limbs and torso for bumps, bruises, swelling, discoloration, etc. Check his fingers and in between his toes. Comb his hair and look at his scalp for anything too. At least until he’s old enough to check himself.
And the family has to teach John about safety. Don’t touch the stove or anything on the stove when it’s hot. Don’t bite your lip or tongue because you won’t know if you’ve bitten too hard. Don’t jump from high places. Wear a jacket if the weather calls for one, even if you don’t feel cold. And so on and so forth.
It is a lot of trial and error as John grows up. It’s hard to remember all the rules when you have no negative reinforcement (pain) to loom over you. Through his time in school, he breaks more bones. Gets cuts all over his body. Let’s infections get out of hand. He’s littered in scars but he does improve on taking care of himself.
By the time he’s in uni, he’s rather careful with himself. He checks himself every night and goes about his world with caution. He does occasionally burn his tongue on hot tea, but he’s not as bad like he was as a kid.
When he’s an adult, he’s pretty well adjusted! His disorder is something he can joke about. It doesn’t bother him too much. He just knows he has to be vigilant about his body. But there’s nothing stopping him from being a rockstar! So he’s real content with that.
In later years when genetic testing becomes a thing, he does take a genetic test that confirms his diagnosis. And he joins trials to find a treatment or cure for CIP. He’s an old man by this point, but he would love to be able to help babies and kids with this disorder before they’ve had too many falls or accidents.
