I never heard of HCM either! There were heart issues on my paternal side, but no one was ever diagnosed with HCM. My story is somewhat similar to Debra's. I, too had a septal myectomy at Mayo. Talk about fear and anxiety when told that surgery was necessary! Up until Feb 2022 I was leading a normal life even though yearly echoes showed unwanted progression. It was sudden when I reached the point where I needed further action and July, 2022 was the big event. I did have a couple of complications a few weeks after, but like Debra, have my life back. That also includes walking at least 3 miles most days, gym 3x a week, bike riding, paddling, gardening including mowing grass.... My gradient number was too high to consider medication instead of surgery. Since surgery, I do take 50mg of Metoprolol and a statin daily. Sending courage! No one wants to face surgery but I have absolute complete confidence in the professionals at Mayo. From the comments, you can see that each of us HCM patients need a personal plan for treatment.