Maya's Journal

Greetings Fellow 🫀Surgery Participants 

My meme is Maya… what I written  is powerful. It’s honest, vulnerable, and very “me” — colourful, strong, reflective, and grateful all at once. I hope this helps at least one person on their journey of heart surgery.



The Beginning of My 🩷 Journey  I am waiting for open heart surgery — a replacement of my aortic valve. I have severe symptomatic aortic stenosis.
Some days I am smiling and life feels orange, red and yellow. Other days are blue and frustrating.
For more than a decade I had mild stenosis, a heart murmur. Yearly visit and yearly tests with my cardiologist. Missed my last visit as I was moving to Thailand to retire. Too excited to worry about my mild murmur. Over the past 12 months it quietly became severe. I became breathless. Huffing and puffing. Unable to walk far. Very swollen feet. Occasional angina. One frightening episode of cold sweat and almost passing out 😵 
And still… I didn’t put 2 + 2 together.
I told myself: “I’m 72.” “I’m a bit chubby.” “It’s hot and humid.” “I’m just getting older.”
I came back to Brisbane for 6 weeks (staying with my daughter) to catch up with friends and to spend Christmas with my family. On 9 December my daughter drove me — all of two minutes — to Emergency. The angina was strong, spreading to my jaw, and did not pass after 15 minutes. I thought I was having a heart attack.
I wasn’t.
After 20 hours in ED, I was admitted to the coronary ward. On 12 December 2025, at Ipswich Hospital, I received the diagnosis: severe aortic stenosis.
I was placed on an urgent (Category One) list for open heart surgery at PA Hospital in Brisbane — meant to happen within 30 days.
It has now been 70 days.
Public health means waiting lists. It means the most critical cases go first. It means bed shortages. And I understand that. I am severe — but stable.
Every day I live with angina and breathlessness. I am very restricted in what I can do. But I am deeply grateful that I am not in constant severe pain while I wait.
You can only read and binge-watch Netflix for so many hours. You can only play so much canasta with friends. You can cook yummy food often… and apparently gain 3 kilos in 10 weeks 😅😳
So I wait. I smile when I can. I feel the blue days when they come. And I stay positive and grateful. 💜
Because this is only the beginning of my journey — not the end 🥰