A Blog About Joe

I wanted to provide a quick update on Joe. Things have finally begun looking up for Joe's feet and colon. Let's begin with the colitis. Joe began responding well to Remicade after his first infusion in early December, and by January was given the go-ahead to ease out of the low-residue diet, to resume running and core work, and to begin titrating the prednisone. Joe was liberated from prednisone 2/11/11, and thus far has not had any breakthrough symptoms.We are hopeful that the Remicade will be enough to control the inflammation in his colon. We won't know how the colon is healing until his next colonoscopy in June, but blood markers related to the inflammatory process are looking okay. Joe's iron remains low due to months of bleeding, but this was to be expected. Since he can't take an iron supplement (too hard on the GI system), and as a vegan is limited in his iron sources, it may take months before that number rises. Since prednisone can undermine bone density, Joe will have a bone density test on 3/18/11, the same day as his next infusion.

As soon as Joe was given the green light to run, he laced up his shoes and began the long journey back to conditioning the heart, lungs and legs for long distance running ventures. Ever mindful of the multiple metatarsal stress fractures he's already sustained, Joe has been careful to take his pace down a notch, and to strictly follow the 10% rule when adding mileage each week. Before his colitis flare, Joe was working with a physical therapist on a gait analysis to identify how his body mechanics may be causing these stress fractures. Last week Joe completed the analysis. This entailed him running barefoot, in shoes and in shoes with orthotics while being videotaped from the front, back and sides. The results find the primary issues include: 1) a weak left hip (possibly from the left sided herniated disc in 2009?) for which strengthening exercises have been provided, and 2) two form issues – vertical displacement (up/down motion), and strong angle of heel-strikes. The video shows Joe running one foot in front of the other, creating a tightrope effect, which adds to the vertical displacement and heel strike issues. These two things can only be changed through mindfulness and determination to consciously alter his running form.