Andrea McLean has been discharged from hospital following her hysterectomy.
The ‘Loose Women’ panellist underwent the invasive operation, which removes all or part of the womb, last week due to "personal reasons" and she’s hopeful she’ll make a swift recovery from now on because she’s back at home.
Speaking in a video link on the lunchtime show on Tuesday (27.09.16), she said: "Hi everyone, I’m home now. I just wanted to say a big thank you for all your messages. I’m outside, I’m in my favourite place in the whole world, which is my porch so I’m sure that will help me get better very quickly. I’ll be watching."
The 46-year-old journalist – who has son Finlay, 15, with her ex-husband Nick Green and daughter Amy, nine, with her estranged spouse Steve Toms – announced she was having the operation last Wednesday (21.09.16) and revealed she planned to take four weeks off in order to get back to full health.
She said at the time: "Just to let you know, don’t worry if you don’t see me for the next month or so. I’m actually going to be at home convalescing, as I’m having a hysterectomy tomorrow. Lots of personal reasons for that."
Andrea had a cancer scare in 2012 when she found a large lump in her right breast and, although she initially decided to ignore the change in her bosom, she was later persuaded to see a doctor by one of her friends.
Her GP arranged a mammogram and it was later revealed that the lump was just harmless "fibrous tissue."
The television presenter has always been very open about her health battles in the past and admitted earlier this year that she was "gripped" by postnatal depression for two years shortly after her daughter Amy’s birth in 2006.
She said: "I had postnatal depression for two years before I finally went to the doctors. It’s something I suffered from and hid. Now what’s really interesting is we’re all really talkative women and I’ve been working on this show for nine years now and I had it while I was on this show.
"A lot of people obviously see me and I’ve been in hair and makeup and I’m all professional and I do my job smiling, interacting, being interested and engaged but what I was doing was literally sobbing all the way home."
A hysterectomy is a major operation carried out to treat conditions that affect the female reproductive system.
After all or part of the womb has been removed, the woman will no longer be able to have children naturally.