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When it comes to school and excuses for not going, Peter is in the normal range rather than delayed by his PDD-NOS. I was a bit surprised, though, when at the end of only the first week, he was already looking for a day off. He said his throat was nauseous, which usually means his throat is hurting.
Pretty sure it was allergies, I checked his head for a fever cool as a cucumber and declared him well enough to go to school. I did give him an allergy medicine and send an email preparing his teacher, but I was hopeful that was the end of it.
Within a couple of hours, I had a call from the school nurse. She, too, thought Peter was feeling anxious about the first week. The thermometer confirmed my forehead check that he was in the normal range, so the nurse sent Peter back to class.
I exchanged a couple of more emails about Peters new school year anxiety with his teacher and again thought we were done. When Peter came home, I thought he was starting to look a bit off, especially since he no longer needed to play the part for a day off on a Friday. By evening, I noticed he was breathing in a way that pointed to how uncomfortable he felt. In fact, he was acting like he does when he has strep throat, swallowing funny and looking like he was in physical distress.
I decided a trip to the doctor might be in order, and Peter jumped at the chance. Now I knew something was not right. His temperature was now in the 99 zone, but when they swabbed his throat the test came back negative. We were told he had a virus that mimics strep. As Bill and Peter were headed home from the doctors office, I received a call that indeed after another few minutes, Peters strep test had changed to positive.
I felt so bad for Peter. All day long he had told everyone he was not feeling well, but his body was not giving the physical signs necessary for us to know just how ill he was. People on the autistic spectrum often feel pain more severely or less severely than the general population would in the same situation. He could feel the strep throat even more quickly than his body could produce a temperature to fight it. I have read of the opposite as well, such as a young lady that had her appendix burst before she felt the pain of appendicitis.
I try to stay aware of this inaccurate pain measurement and read his other cues. It must have been frustrating for Peter to be using his language but not receiving the help he needed for much of the day because his body was not showing signs of how ill he felt. Hopefully next time I will piece it together more quickly.
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