Five days after I was admitted, they let me go home. Released on 17 August 2026, back in my own bed, and going nowhere fast.

There was still so much fluid. The scales said 105kg. That’s 2kg off the 107kg I went in at, and I knew most of what was left wasn’t going to just drain away on its own.

I’ll be straight with you about the photo. It isn’t from this August. It’s from November 2019, and I’ve used it because it shows exactly what this does better than anything I took this time. Same feet, same swelling, same fluid.

Not my first rodeo. I’ve been at this since 2019.

Relapse, admission, home, try to get back on my feet, and round again. That’s been the pattern for years now.

This time I’m hoping it’s different. Rituximab is the next step, and hopefully that’s what finally fixes it. And this time there’s something at the end of it that there’s never been before: a finish line, in Paris.

For now, though, the road back starts on the sofa.

One day at a time.

— James