A few months ago I was diagnosed with cataracts.  At 51-yrs-old, I am young to have them, but apparently early cataracts are not uncommon in people with severe nearsightedness.  (Yes, critics of my work are right; I am extremely myopic.)

Today marks the three-week anniversary of the surgery that replaced the lens in my right eye and the one-week anniversary of the replacement of the lens in my left eye.  If there is a medical procedure that deserves the description of miraculous, cataract surgery may be it.  I was in the operating room for about 15 minutes each time and left the surgery center an hour or so later able to see better than I can ever remember.  (I cant count the number of times in the last three weeks that I found myself suddenly exclaiming: Unbelievable!)

To be sure, there is occasional blurriness and there was a rosy hue for a few daysvery disconcerting for a glass-half-empty kind of guybut the overall change in vision is remarkable.  Others have told me of the old days when cataract surgery meant a long hospital stay and sandbags anchoring patients heads.  No more.

The only down side is that I was planning to lobby for the big screen TV on the grounds that I couldnt see the little box with the pitch count when I watched Indians games on the tube.  I dont have that excuse anymore.