A normal day in our new life

We often get asked what a “normal” day looks like in our new life. Especially by our own family.

The truth is: everything revolves around Oliver. Since he still can’t leave the house, we’re basically always at home. Today was one of those days that shows perfectly how unpredictable everything has become. But let me start from the beginning.

Pip and Freddy – our two new roommates, the canaries – moved into their new three-story cage yesterday. It sounds huge, but 90 cm in height actually makes quite a difference, and for Oliver it’s something new to watch. Seeing his little friends bathe, eat, and just go about their bird life is a highlight for him.

Around 11 a.m., he had a nap with Papa. Afterwards, Oliver wanted to move into the living room. There he spent some time watching TV with his brothers. After the usual midday shower of rain, we went outside for a short walk to spot some more birds.

Halfway through, Oliver suddenly needed suctioning. That’s when we noticed our device wasn’t working properly—it had almost no suction. So we had to head back home. Or rather, as quickly as you can with all the equipment in tow.

Back at the house we tried again, but it still wasn’t working well. So one of us had to go out and buy a new device.

Later in the evening, Oliver’s heart rate went up and at first we didn’t know why. Then he kept saying “pee.” He was feeling his bladder, and we realized that his catheter wasn’t draining properly. Even the daily flushing didn’t help. So we tried to encourage Oliver to pee on his own. Amazingly, it partly worked. In the end his diaper weighed 300 grams. It took a while, because Oliver can only release urine in impulses. But “only” is the wrong word—it’s actually a miracle that he even has the sensation of a full bladder, and that he can control it at all, even if just in drops.

Of course, we called our doctor. Luckily, his practice is very close by. The catheter was changed, and during that process Oliver grimaced and all of his limbs moved so strongly.

Right in the middle of this, we also had friends visiting—friends we usually only meet during our Mexico trips, who now live almost next door. Sadly, we couldn’t give them much time. But that’s part of our new life too: the unpredictable things. Today it was the broken suction device and a catheter that stopped working.

This is our “normal.”