Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi had been sharing the less glamorous parts of recovery for weeks: the pain, the slow walks, the nights when sleep was hard to come by.

Then, in a new set of photos posted Aug. 16, one image showed something quieter.

Her youngest son, 7-year-old Angelo, had climbed into the hospital bed beside her.

Polizzi, 38, was recovering from a hysterectomy performed six months after she was diagnosed with stage 1 cervical cancer. “What a journey this has been,” she wrote with the update.

The Jersey Shore star is also mom to Lorenzo, 13, and Giovanna, 11, with husband Jionni LaValle. Since learning she had cancer earlier this year, Polizzi has used social media to show what treatment and recovery have looked like inside her own family.

Her Recovery Has Been Slow

The Aug. 16 carousel did not present recovery as neat or easy.

Along with the picture of Angelo beside her, Polizzi shared an image of herself with her dog, Rocky, and another with her parents, Helen and Andrew Polizzi. The people and pets closest to her appeared throughout the update.

She also kept some of the humor that longtime viewers know her for.

One photo showed a crocheted pink uterus positioned between a pair of socks carrying the message, “I’ve got 99 problems, but a uterus ain’t one.”

Behind the joke was a recovery that Polizzi said was taking time.

“It’s literally going to take the whole 6 weeks,” she wrote in an Instagram Stories update.

On another day, she filmed herself walking Rocky and described herself more simply.

“I’m a hot mess.”

Movement had become easier, she said, but she was learning not to push too far. Nights remained harder because of pain and trouble sleeping.

The Cancer Was Found Earlier This Year

Polizzi’s health scare began in January, when doctors found cancerous cells on her cervix.

The following month, she publicly revealed that she had cancer. Rather than keep the diagnosis private, she told followers she wanted to talk about something many women experience but may be frightened to discuss.

“It’s a scary thing and a lot of us women deal with it,” she said in an Instagram video.

That fear became part of the way she spoke about surgery too.

Polizzi had noticed comments from women who told her they were preparing for similar procedures. She decided to keep showing them what hers looked like, including the parts that hurt.

“I’m here to show you what’s up and it’s scary, and it’s okay to be scared,” she told followers.

By the time she underwent the hysterectomy, the experience had moved from diagnosis into recovery.

The operation was over.

The pain wasn’t.

Her Family Kept Showing Up Beside Her

That difference came through in the Aug. 16 photographs.

Polizzi could make jokes about a crocheted uterus and novelty socks, but she also showed the people helping fill the days while her body healed.

Her parents were there.

Rocky was there.

And Angelo got into the bed beside his mother.

The image stood apart because Polizzi has also spoken about how her cancer diagnosis affected her children.

Her posts over the past several months have made clear that treatment wasn’t happening in isolation. It was taking place inside a household where she is raising three children and where ordinary family life continued around medical appointments and surgery.

That made Angelo’s appearance in the latest update less about posing for a picture than about where recovery was happening: with family close enough to climb onto the bed.

Polizzi did not dress up the rest of the experience.

She said nighttime pain was still difficult. She was still paying attention to her limits. She was still moving through a recovery period she expected to last the full six weeks.

She Keeps Returning to the Same Message for Women

From the start, Polizzi has tied her own diagnosis to a larger request.

Get checked.

When she first discussed her cancer publicly, she said she hoped being open would give other women a clearer view of what the process could involve. Her posts have included fear, hospital care, pain management and the uneven pace of getting back on her feet.

After surgery, she told followers she hoped the procedure would leave her cancer-free.

“But now it’s over,” she said of the operation. “I just have to deal with the pain.”

She described that pain as something to manage in the days after surgery rather than something she intended to hide.

Her closing advice was even more direct.

“Get your Pap smears, okay?”

That message had been part of Polizzi’s public updates since doctors discovered the cancerous cells earlier in the year. By August, the same woman who had first told followers she was scared was documenting the other side of surgery, one slow walk and sleepless night at a time.

The Aug. 16 carousel held all of those pieces together.

There was the joke about no longer having a uterus.

There was Rocky.

There were her parents.

And there was Angelo, 7, stretched out beside his mother in the hospital bed while she recovered.

For Polizzi, the treatment update did not end with a polished picture of being finished. She was still hurting, still healing and still asking women to make the appointment she believes matters.

“I love you. Thanks for being here,” she told followers. “And get your Pap smears, okay?”