‘Today’ Host Sheinelle Jones Shares Photo From Hospital Bed Following Vocal Cord Surgery

Today co-anchor Sheinelle Jones is on the mend after undergoing vocal cord surgery on Monday, Feb. 24. After revealing on the daytime show last week that she would have to undergo the medical procedure to remove a polyp on her vocal cord, Jones took to Instagram Monday night with a photo from her hospital bed, opening up about her difficult recovery.

“Hi everybody! I just wanted you to know that I’m okay, and to thank you for all of your messages and prayers,” Jones began the post. “Apparently I emerged out of anesthesia ‘talking’ …. I was out of it… I just remember a male voice kindly but firmly telling me to ‘please stop talking.’ At the time, I was trying to tell them that I was ‘awake’ and not to use the breathing tube yet lol — but clearly they were already finished.”

Jones went on to explain that once she was “alone in the recovery room,” she became overcome with emotion.

“I started crying through my oxygen mask,” she explained. “The nurse rushed over and gave me a pen to scribble what was the matter. Honestly, nothing was wrong — I think it was just a release … this has been a long time coming and I’ve struggled off and on for so long…. I also felt like I was wrapped in prayers …. it felt like such a powerful moment.”

“I remember when I was little I would see older people crying in church; my mom would explain that they were ‘moved’ and ‘rejoicing,’ with happy tears,” she continued. “That’s how I felt today… I literally felt the power of so many well wishes and prayers.”

Jones added that she was “thankful to be ‘awake,’” as she had told son, Kayin, 10, and twins Uche and Clara Josephine, 7, whom she shares with husband Uche Ojeh, that “‘mommy would be just fine’… and I was relieved I could keep my promise.”

Jones will have to go two weeks without talking, as she explained last week the 3rd Hour of Today, and she doesn’t intend to return to work for six weeks. Instead, Jones wrote that “now the work begins to heal.”

“The nurse kept telling me to ‘enjoy’ the rest… I had a hard time doing that, so clearly I have some work to do,” Jones joked in her post. “Ok that’s my check in. Thank you *so so* much for all of your kindness.”