The ‘Jersey Shore’ star has been transparent in her recovery from cancer surgery, she says, to help women navigate a “scary thing”
Credit: Snooki/Instagram (2)
NEED TO KNOW
- Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi is recovering from a hysterectomy after being diagnosed with stage 1 cervical cancer earlier this year
- She has been candid about her recovery process, sharing updates to support and inform other women facing similar surgeries
- In a video shared to her Instagram stories on Aug. 6, Polizzi opened up about using a pillow strapped to her stomach to help her with walking after the procedure
Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi shared that she’s struggling with “pain” and sleeping at night as she recovers from a hysterectomy, explaining, “it’s literally going to take the whole 6 weeks.”
The Jersey Shore star, 38, shared a video to her Instagram stories on Aug. 6, showing a gray pillow strapped to her stomach as she walked through her home. “This is what life has come to,” Polizzi said as she stuck her hand in the pillow’s pocket. “This is what we’re doing.”
Holding a pillow against your stomach following abdominal surgery can bring relief. The Hysterectomy Centre recommends “a small soft pillow – that you can hold in place over your tummy to give support to your wounds when deep breathing or wanting to cough.”
Credit: Snooki/Instagram
Recovery usually takes four to six weeks, per the Cleveland Clinic, and as Polizzi explained in the caption over a selfie shared to her Stories, “it’s literally going to take the whole 6 weeks.” She shared another update while walking her dog, Rocky, saying, “I’m a hot mess.”
“Hystersisters: Easier to walk around, but know my limits,” she wrote. “Night time is still the worse with pain and being able to sleep.”
The mom of three — she shares sons Lorenzo Dominic and Angelo James and daughter Giovanna Marie with husband Jionni LaValle — has been candid about her health struggle, which began in January when her doctors discovered cancerous cells in her cervix. The next month, she revealed she’d been diagnosed with stage 1 cervical cancer.
As she explained in an Instagram video where she documented her surgery day, Polizzi says she has been transparent about her struggle because “it’s a scary thing and a lot of us women deal with it, and no one really talks about it. So I’m here to give that platform for all of us ladies.”
Credit: snooki/Instagram
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“I read a lot of your comments that some of you are going to get surgery next week, you’re doing the same thing, so I’m here to show you what’s up and it’s scary, and it’s okay to be scared,” she continued. “But now it’s over. It’s over. I just have to deal with the pain. It’s just like any surgery. You have pain, you gotta manage it, manage it, get the pain meds, and in a couple of days, you’ll feel brand spanking new, no more periods. I don’t have to take birth control anymore. Hopefully I’ll be cancer free, and that’s it.”
She concluded the video, “I love you. Thanks for being here. And get your Pap smears, okay?”
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