Married At First Sight expert Mel Schilling has given fans an update amid her recently announced battle with colon cancer.

Taking to Instagram, the 51-year-old psychologist and dating coach revealed doctors found a tumour and diagnosed her last Thursday, sharing it has now been removed through keyhole surgery and confessed: “it couldn’t have gone any better”.

Posting a photo of herself in hospital under the care of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), she gave a thumbs up and had a tube in her nose adding, “Crucially the cancer hadn’t spread to my abdominal cavity, which was our greatest fear but was entirely localised in my colon.”

“Over the coming days, I will discuss my treatment plan going forward but suffice to say that Terry is toast!”

Terry was the name she had given to her tumour.

The TV star also used her post to give thanks to health workers, saying “everyone in the UK should be incredibly proud of the people of the NHS”. Adding, “The NHS is a unique, precious institution we need to make sure it’s here to serve our children and our children’s children.”

Schilling signed off the post with an update message writing, “Now, it’s time to focus on getting my a** out of here in time for Christmas”.

The TV star first broke the news of her diagnosis last week, appearing to Instagram with a picture of her and husband Gareth, 51, hugging their daughter Madison, eight.

She captioned the post, “‘You have cancer’. Three little words that everyone dreads but no one ever expects to hear. Last Thursday my consultant told me those three words.”

The mother of one told fans just a month ago while filming the upcoming MAFS Australia season 11, she began to feel pain in her stomach and visited a doctor who told her it was “constipation” and gave her some “laxatives and sent me on my way”.

However, the star confessed she thought it was something more than that and once she was back in the UK, she booked in for a scan where they found the 5cm tumour.

“In an instant, my whole life changed,” she said.

The star is expected to spend Christmas Day in the hospital, where she continues to recover from her recent surgery and admitted that while it’s a heartbreaking situation, she is expected to make a full recovery and feels “blessed” her cancer was “relatively easy to eradicate”.

Colon cancer symptoms can include a change in bowel habits, rectal bleeding, anal or rectal pain, lumps, unexpected weight loss, fatigue and anaemia.

Treatment of the disease will likely involve surgical removal of the cancer or radiation therapy and chemotherapy depending on its size and location.