Hello Ridley Bypass surgery for sure is serious but commonplace. The teams that perform the CABG (cabbage) are pros. I myself had a quadruple bypass 14 months ago, it was the only serious thing that ever happened to me as far as health goes. All the answers befor me are great and cover all the bases. I will add that you Mom will be very weak after the surgery and probably will suffer some anxiety (such as I did) but with steady short walks and increasing as fast as you can the distance she walks she will recover nicely. After a few weeks she will need to start cardiac therapy , which is absolutely wonderful and needed. I did 36 sessions of therapy ( 3 times a week for 12 weeks ) , by the time it was over I was feeling very strong and healthy again but still had some incisional pain. By this time your Mom should be in fairly good shape and probably over her anxiety also. Its very very important to continue to do cardiac exersizes continuosly from that point on. I think The YMCA is a wonderful place to continue her new health program. Also she must change her diet to a heart healthy diet or all will be lost anyway and she must stick with it even when she is feeling very good again. Once we start feeling good we seem to think its ok to revert back to our old eating habits. Im sure with the support she gets from you and the rest of your family and friends she will be fine. Just a note,,,it takes up to and some times a full year to recover from bypass surgery. Its been 14 months for me and I am finally at about 95 % of where I was. Just be strong for your Mom Leon