Jeannie Mai is rebuilding her strength after her recent health scare.
Earlier this month, “The Real” co-host discovered a large abscess growing in her throat. She was diagnosed with epiglottitis – a life-threatening condition – and had to undergo an emergency operation, forcing her to withdraw from “Dancing with the Stars” Season 29.
In a new interview with People, Jeannie opened up about her ongoing recovery process, which hasn’t been easy.
“The alarming thing is, I still couldn’t breathe afterwards,” she said of her experience post-surgery. “It was even worse because now – because of extreme surgery, where he had removed my tonsils and also completely cut open the abscess in my throat in order to funnel the liquid out – my throat is swollen.”
“I couldn’t eat anything for two weeks, so I was tube feeding there in the hospital for a week, and I had a nurse come in every two hours just to make sure I was breathing,” she continued.
WATCH: Jeannie Mai Exits ‘Dancing With The Stars’ After Hospitalization: ‘I Am Heartbroken’
Jeannie’s liquid-only diet led to her to lose weight, which left an emotional toll.
“I got kind of depressed because I lost about 10 lbs. from just eating liquids, so I am really frail right now. Really, really frail … [I’m] really tired because I’m so underweight and malnourished,” she said, adding that she “can’t wait to get back into the gym to gain back [her] body and health to conquer [her] dreams again.”
The TV personality detailed additional bumps in the road on her healing journey – including how difficult sleeping is.
“The hardest part of recovery was going to sleep because when I go to sleep, if you breathe wrong, you get into a coughing fit and it hurt like crazy and it would bleed. So sleeping was difficult because you can’t really go into a slumber where you would snore — you couldn’t sleep very heavy,” she shared.
WATCH: Jeannie Mai’s Fiancé Jeezy Gives Update On Her Recovery From Surgery: ‘She’s Doing Well’
Having to say goodbye to her “Dancing with the Stars” experience in order to prioritize her health was upsetting to Jeannie.
“I was devastated, mortified, upset. I was in tears and I actually fought the doctor to say, ‘Can I just at least compete in this week’s competition?’ because I worked so hard on my Charleston, which was our next dance together with [dancing pro] Brandon [Armstrong],” she told People.
“I thought maybe I can do the surgery on a Tuesday, take a week to heal, watch the routines virtually and figure it out. But he said, ‘Absolutely not.’ Because any form of respiratory work — like walking fast, getting excited, laughing — causes the blood pressure to swell in your throat, because that’s one of your main pipelines for breathing, and that alone could even erupt or swell them closed more,” she added.
‘Dancing with the Stars’ Season 29 Celebrity Cast
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