Bachelorette alum Katie Thurston says she's 'optimistic' about breast cancer diagnosis, but will 'never be cured'

Katie Thurston is steadfast about remaining positive in the face of her daunting stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis — but the treatment isn't easy.

The former Bachelorette star recently sat down with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Teddi Mellencamp, who is undergoing her own fight against stage 4 cancer, on the latter's podcast. Two Ts in a Pod. Thurston was happy to share the progress her hormone-blocking therapy has made on the disease.

"I take a pill every day, three weeks on, one week off. I don't know the science behind it," she said, "It is tough on my body, but it's working. The tumor in my liver has already shrunk."

Thurston continued, "The breast [tumor] has shrunk in size. My next scan is October. So I mean, maybe I'm being a little too optimistic, but maybe there'll be no evidence of disease."

Still, Thurston is careful to manage her optimism, however: "Technically, with breast cancer, I'll never be cured."

Thurston was initially diagnosed with "stage three triple positive" breast cancer, she said, but subsequent consultations with other medical providers proved that to be a misdiagnosis, which was a mixed blessing. Her current doctors have diagnosed her with stage 4 cancer, a more aggressive form of the disease, but she's no longer considered HER2-positive, which means it's easier to fight.

But because of the advanced stage of the disease, Thurston says that, "There's always a breast cancer cell circulating somewhere, is how I like simplify it, and why I'm not ever going to be breast cancer free, as of now. But I'm very optimistic in the medical advancements and in hope for a great future for people like you and me in terms of...what treatments are available."

Thurston says the daily hormone-blocking pill and other medications have induced early menopause, and there's a host of other side effects.

"The memory thing is the one thing I noticed right away. My vision's decreasing, my hair is thinning, I'm tired all the time, which is tough because then they're like, 'Oh, well, to help with the side effects, work out.' I'm like, 'But I'm too tired to do anything,'" she said.

Thurston has previously joked about the true downside of her worsening memory: losing more petty fights with her husband, the comedian Jeff Arcuri.

Recalling an argument she struggled to have with Arcuri in June, Thurston said, "I was like, 'This has happened before.' He was like, 'When?' I was like, 'I don't know, but I know it has!'"

Thurston singled Jarcuri out for praise in February when she revealed her cancer diagnosis on Instagram.

"I don't know how I'd do this without you," she wrote. "The selfless love that you smother me in is beyond anything I imagined I'd be blessed with. I love you to the fullest in this lifetime and the next."