Perhaps nerve endings within "sense organs" offer a level of abstraction in propagating information to a consciousness somewhere else.

Consider happiness. Possibly a cell feels happy when there's plenty of energy and its cellular processes are working well. Possibly it feels something else leading up to apoptosis.

That's pretty much how it felt when I experienced an ego death on mushrooms. My sense of self shattered and I could feel that I was emerging from a deep resonance in the consciousness of my cells.

Panpsychism in various forms has historically held sway with many philosophers. It’s really the Occam’s razor for consciousness.