I have a hereditary heart condition known as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or "HCM." The main feature of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an excessive thickening of the heart muscle (hypertrophy literally means to thicken). The abnormality of the heart muscle in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy causes two problems. First, it can sometimes interfere with the normal electrical signal in the heart and cause sudden cardiac death. That is the reason that I have had an implantable cardiac defibrillator implanted into my chest -- to prevent against a potentially lethal arrythmia. Secondly, and of note in my case, the muscle thickening also narrows the outflow tract where the blood is pumped from my heart out into the rest of the body. During the ejection of the blood flow from the heart, my mitral valve touches my septum (there should normally be a considerable gap between these structures) causing turbulent blood flow and obstruction to flow which produces a loud murmur. In the surgery I am scheduled for, called a septal "myectomy," Dr. Dearani will remove a portion of the thickened muscle from the septum (or the part of the muscle that divides the heart) thereby widening the outflow tract and relieving the obstruction. This should both relieve my symptoms and improve my long term prognosis. If you would like to learn more information about HCM, please visit www.4HCM.org.