Ariarne Titumus's recovery from surgery to remove benign tumours has been "frustrating" but the swimming superstar is making steady progress ahead of next year's Paris Olympics.
The dual Olympic champion last month revealed two tumours were found on one of her ovaries by chance after she underwent an MRI scan on a sore hip.
Titmus has since returned to the pool and is back in the gym but insists she has a long way to go after the shock health discovery.
"It's frustrating being behind where I want to be at this point in the season, because the recovery from a surgery like this is not simple," she told the Keegan and Company podcast.
"But I had no choice for me and where I want to go in my life, I just had to get it out.
"I wasn't doing anything for two weeks and then slowly got back in (the pool); I wore a floaty around my waist ... doing dog paddles for 200 metres and slowly building up.
"It's just so frustrating, my squad is so fit at the moment and I just feel like a blob."
The 23-year-old conceded her intense focus on training had probably led her to neglect other areas of her health.
"As an athlete, you are all the time so worried about keeping your body in check to perform, and only worrying about getting enough sleep, eating right, physio, massage - all just to perform every day," Titmus said.
"So when you hear that you've got a tumour on your ovary, it cuts pretty deep.
"I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm very lucky that it was removed easily and there was nothing serious ... but it was really scary."
In her social media post revealing her health battle in September, the 400m freestyle world record holder opened up about her desire to one day have children.
She said she was "petrified" about the impact the tumours might have on her ability to be a mother.
"When you get told something that could potentially interfere with that, it's really scary," Titmus said.
"Since then I've had so many women message me and be like, 'I had a massive (tumour) and I lost my ovary, but I got pregnant with one ovary'.
"It was pretty cool to hear from women and all their different stories."
