Hey, my tubes, IG friends, family, and anyone who’s reading this! ❤️🦈
I appreciate you all being here and reading my first blog! The last half of the year has been super eye-opening for me. I had the BEST prep of my life going into the 2023 Ms. Fitness Olympia!
My husband (Matt, AKA Babe, hehe) had so many awesome training sessions leading up to this show! We literally trained our asses off - he put me through so many workouts, which is something I can look back on, and I really appreciate that time with him, especially right now - as I sit here with my leg elevated in bed typing this.
If you didn’t know, I injured myself during my fitness routine on Nov 3rd, 2023. It was truly devastating as I was going for my 3rd Ms. Fitness Olympia win. With my showing at prejudging, I was locked in for 1st place. The Fitness division has a physique and routine round. The physique makes up ⅓ of the score, whereas the fitness routine makes up the remainder.
Many people said it was my show to lose...unfortunately, the gutted feeling of getting carried off stage will forever burn in my brain.
I think everything happens for a reason. I don’t know why God chose for my knee to explode on the Olympia stage 30 seconds into my routine on a tumbling pass I’ve done 1 million times (I did it with Matt at an LA Fitness in Orlando 48 hours earlier!).
I still don’t fully understand why it happened, but I’m making the best of it and taking this time to heal, reset my body, and prepare for whatever is next in my fitness journey!
My Full Injury Recap
To recap my injury, Matt and I took the first flight we could find after I got injured - it was the worst 48 hours of my life. First of all, I was still on a high and adrenaline rush from being on the Olympia stage. I’m used to celebrating the win and taking photos for hours with friends afterward, but not finishing left a huge void in my heart.
I felt like I let my husband down, you guys, and mostly myself. The feeling and heartache kept replaying all night. The injury never really set in until the morning. I was in so much pain with zero painkillers.
I don’t know why the ER in Orlando said it was okay to fly, let alone be on a 6-hour flight with zero painkillers. Let’s just say when we landed in Seattle, my knee/leg was 4x the size of my good leg! Once we got home, I was able to get the care needed to move forward and find a surgeon.
Thank God we only had one orthopedic surgeon who checked all of our boxes! Dr. Moulton was amazing, and so was his team! He scheduled an MRI for me the following day and surgery for the first week of December with the prerequisite that I could bend my leg at 90 degrees before my next appointment.
Worse Than I Expected...
My MRI report came back, and Dr. Moulton explained what he saw… I thought it was bad, but it gets 1000 times worse!! Unfortunately, I had completely blown out my knee with a complete tear of my ACL, and my medial and lateral meniscus were both torn.
While doing prehab and waiting for the pain/swelling to go down, the surgeon wanted me to decide on what type of graft to use in order to repair the ACL. Matt and I had many conversations about which graft would be best.
We both agreed that I would use my patellar tendon for my ACL repair (THE MOST PAINFUL ROUTE!!!). As for my meniscus, Dr. Moulton would either do a repair with sutras and plastic or he would have to do a vasectomy (remove them completely).
Surgery has come and gone. I do physical therapy twice a week and have doctor’s orders that I can’t put any weight on my left leg - not even toes down! This will be for six weeks until I have my next follow-up on Jan 22nd.
Then *fingers crossed* I’ll get the go-ahead where I can walk without crutches, drive, and sleep upstairs! I’m currently on the main floor - I have everything I need nearby. I’m glad to be on the up now! That first week with all the painkillers and pain had left me totally helpless and super down.
Please watch my YouTube video where Matt and I talk about everything and go into detail about how severe my surgery was and what the doctor didn’t see on my MRI. Let’s just say the surgery went way longer than expected!
Post Olympia Recap
The Importance of a Strong Support System
Fortunately, I can honestly say I’m in such a better place now! I have an amazing group of friends, (Heather - You’ve come through so much during this time), a great care team, including Dr. Jon and the real MVP Matt - I love you so much, babe! You make the best cream of rice bowl (I don’t know why, but it always tastes better than mine! Haha) I love you guys so much!
We are going to take 2024 by storm this year!!! I can’t wait to return to 100%. I’m working hard daily on my rehab and training what I can! (Let’s just say these shoulders/back and arms are going to be SICK!!)
My Supplement Stack For Recovery
Right now, just to let you guys in on my supplement protocol for the morning upon waking, I’m taking BPC 157 and TB 500 from Amino Asylum. Along with Heart + and Liver + from Axe and Sledge. (you can save 10% off with Code: Missy
After I shower, I will put on a topical cream C60 + CDB Rejuvenate Creme (code: missy). I don’t apply it directly on the incision but along the sides of my knee to penetrate down into my lateral and medial meniscus. This will help repair the ligaments and tendons. I do see progress now that I’m using these products in my daily routine. I want to ensure my recovery is on point, and I’m doing everything possible to stay on top of it.
Making The Most of The Process
I feel like the bad days are behind me when it comes to the pain and surgery. I have so much to be thankful for… an amazing, supportive husband, a great group of friends, and my kick-ass clients with Team Apex!
Something I’m really looking forward to in 2024 is going to the Arnold Classic with Matt and Axe &Sledge! I haven’t been in 2 years! Making plans to visit Canada with Matt to see my brothers and parents (not sure when that will be, but I also haven’t been back to where I grew up in almost seven years!).
Just a lot of cool things I’m looking forward to doing! I hope I get to meet some of you guys at the Arnold Classic Expo this year! Check out the video below for more information on my surgery and how I've been training since surgery. Thank you for reading, and I’ll catch you in the next blog! ❤️🦈