The Road Back · Post 5

Back on the Drip

4 September 2026 · Dorset County Hospital & Bridport

James on Day Zero, 12 August 2026, face badly swollen with fluid retention — Same hospital, same cannula, three weeks apart. Spot the difference.

James on a hospital bed at Dorset County Hospital on 4 September 2026, cannula in his arm and drip stand beside him, during his final Rituximab infusion — face visibly slimmer than on Day Zero — Same hospital, same cannula, three weeks apart. Spot the difference.

On 4 September I was back at Dorset County Hospital, cannula in, drip up. Only this time I walked in on my own two feet, two days after my first run back, for my second and final Rituximab infusion.

Put the two photos side by side and you don’t need me to tell you what’s changed. On Day Zero my face was so swollen I barely recognised it. Three weeks later, most of that water has gone.

Hopefully it works its magic.

The steroids have been doing the immediate repair on my kidneys, and the Furosemide has been shifting the water. Rituximab is the long game. It’s the one I’m hoping fixes this for the future, so I’m not back here again.

That evening I got home and took Nellie out for a recovery walk. It was the same loop up Lee Lane and back along the River Asker that I walked on 21 August, one of my very first walks home. That day it took me just under an hour. This time, straight off the drip, it was 41 minutes.

Strava record of a 2.2-mile recovery walk with Nellie on the evening of 4 September 2026, after the final infusion — “Recovery walk with Nellie after final infusion today. Hopefully it works its magic and I’m cured.” 🙏

The Road Back — Stats

Post 5 · 4 Sep 2026Running Back

Weight

96kg

Down from 97 on 2 Sep

Lost so far

11kg

From 107kg start

Longest run

3.69mi

First run back · 2 Sep

Evening walk

2.20mi

41:20 · with Nellie

Road Back day

Final infusion

To Paris

350+mi

April 2028

Tablets a day

8 of them steroids

Treatment — the daily rattle

Prednisolone — 8 × 5mg a day (40mg) · steroid, repairing the immediate kidney issue
Furosemide — 2 × 40mg (10am & 2pm) · to release the water
Ramipril — 1 × 2.5mg · blood pressure
Atorvastatin — 1 × 40mg · cholesterol
Famotidine — 1 × 20mg · protects the stomach while on steroids
Adcal-D3 — 1 × 750mg · calcium & vitamin D, protects the bones while on steroids
Rituximab — IV infusions · the long-term repair · second and final infusion 4 Sep 2026

The combination stays until everything heals. The steroids get weaned off, one tablet at a time, once the urine test sticks come back clear.

Every figure is real and dated. Early weight loss is fluid shifted with medication — the rest is earned on the road.

Last infusion done. Now it’s over to the road. Next stop: telling Andy we’re really doing this.

— James (and Nellie)