The Bachelorette alum Katie Thurston has shared an update on her double mastectomy surgery amid her cancer battle.
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Katie admitted she was "surprised how hard it actually was" after undergoing a double mastectomy.
The Bachelorette 17 alum proceeded to share that she has to stay in San Francisco with her husband Jeff Arcuri for a little longer.
"Recovering here until drains get removed. Then we'll fly back to NYC. As of now, we are hoping drains come out on the 7th," Katie wrote.
"Jeff has two shows in LA, so many girlfriends will come take over for a few days. I'm so lucky!"
This past weekend, Katie took to Instagram to share a photo of herself relaxing in a hospital bed, appearing to be in good spirits as she munched on fries.
"The first 24 hours are a blur. All I know is I wanted fries despite feeling like I would throw up at any minute," Katie shared at the time.
"Currently I'm wrapped in bandages with drains. No idea what my body looks like. I had a nipple sparing DMX direct to implant with nerve preservation. As a cancer survivor, my breast surgery is covered."
However, Katie noted the nerve preservation isn't covered under her insurance.
"It's not talked enough about how you lose your feeling/sensations. And I think this is a big piece for quality of life and feeling as most 'me' that I can," she continued in her post.
"Thank you to... all those involved in my care. But also the biggest shoutout to my amazing husband @jarcuri who continues to love me softly and gently and be by my side through this chapter. #dmx #mbc #breastcancersupport."
Once Katie was out of surgery, Jeff updated fans on her health via social media, and Katie later reposted the content.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWJeff first posted a photo of Katie dressed for surgery and wrote, "This beautiful bada** just went in for surgery for her double mastectomy. She is in amazing hands and spirits are HIGH. I'll be updating everyone as soon as I can!"
Jeff followed that up by revealing that Katie's surgery went great.
He also posted a funny video that showed him trying to put Katie's hair into a bun on the top of her head.
Jeff later revealed it was "discharge day," and he posted a photo of Katie outside in the city, holding a daisy outside.
Katie recently denied speculation that her marriage is on the rocks and headed for divorce.
Not only are Katie and Jeff still an item, but they also just bought a house together that they plan to renovate.
"[It's] one that will require a lot [of] TLC to get her ready," Katie shared April 22 on Instagram.
"This is a huge project we will be documenting over the next year... This is just the beginning as we create our demo plan."
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Katie first announced her cancer diagnosis in February 2025.
"I had a small lump in my breast... I discovered it myself," Katie wrote via Instagram Stories at the time.
"[I] thought maybe it was my period [or] maybe it was muscle soreness from working out. But, eventually, this lump never went away."
One month later, Katie learned the cancer had spread to her liver, elevating her diagnosis to stage 4.
Katie -- who chose to move from California to New York for Jeff and her cancer treatments -- sought fertility treatments so that she and Jeff can hopefully welcome children one day.
The pair also got married on March 22, 2025 in an intimate backyard wedding.
Katie said she and Jeff will have a bigger wedding, complete with personalized vows, after she beats cancer.
"It was this kind gesture of him saying, truly, in sickness and in health," Katie gushed to Us Weekly last year.
"He is proving that he's here to stay. He shows up every day and he does it in ways that just continue to surprise."
Jeff apparently decided that he wanted to be Katie's husband, officially, when she began her treatment.
"I want to be able to be in the hospital with her and just be like, 'My wife's in there.' There's more power to that," Jeff said. "I don't want to be not with you for any of this."
Katie, who competed on Matt James' The Bachelor season before starring on The Bachelorette's seventeenth season, saw Jeff for the first time in March 2024 on Instagram and sent her friend a video clip of one of his standup acts. Katie told her friend that Jeff was going to be her "future husband."
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Katie added how Jeff's humor really helped her get through "every single appointment" and all of the IVF shots.
"[Chemotherapy] does raise the risk of you not being able to conceive. Knowing that we wanted kids in the future, we thought, 'Okay, let's do IVF just to have that option.' We dedicated two weeks before doing anything else breast cancer wise to doing IVF," Katie shared.
Katie went on, "A lot of women don't even realize that you can take 10 days to dedicate time to your reproductive health and your future family plans. We were able to retrieve 17 eggs and of those 17, six became embryos."
Prior to falling in love with Jeff, Katie had a short-lived engagement to her The Bachelorette 17 winner Blake Moynes.
Katie's The Bachelorette season ended on ABC in August 2021, and then she and Blake -- a Canadian wildlife specialist -- announced their breakup only a couple of months later in October 2021.
Katie then went public with her romance with John Hersey, whom she had eliminated during Week 2 of her The Bachelorette journey, in November 2021. She was accused of moving on from Blake quickly with "a rebound" and emotionally cheating on her ex-fiance.
Katie and John split after less than one year together in June 2022, and Katie expressed on numerous occasions how John dumped her after she had allegedly given the relationship everything she had.
After ending her relationship with John, Katie made a cameo on Bachelor in Paradise's ninth season in 2023 and found closure with Blake, who remained her friend post-show.
Katie then she decided to pursue a unique opportunity and look for love on FBoy Island.
Katie had a brief public relationship with FBoy Island's Vince Xu, but Katie announced their breakup in December 2023.
Katie then soft launched her relationship with Jeff in January 2024 when she was asked to give dating advice on Instagram, but she didn't reveal she was officially dating Jeff until June of that year.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
