SOL 17 of 31 -- Cataract Surgery

The checker at the grocery store was squinting at my bell peppers.  Another clerk leaned over his arm and squinted, too, as he smoothed out the plastic produce bag over it.  "Umm..." she said, "Four....Six....eight....eight.  Yes. It's 4688!"

My checker looked up at me and said, "I had cataracts removed and I still can't see!"

"Oh? How long ago did you have the surgery?"  I asked, thinking of how my grandma had expected to see clearly immediately following the surgery but instead it took a few days.

"I had it done by Dr. Ball--you know, over at the Aurora Medical Center's south campus--"

"Oh." I know the Aurora Medical Center, I do not know of this doctor.

"Yeah, it's real easy these days. I think the whole thing took about 1 hour."

"Uh-huh." Yup, my mom has had the surgery in the last year or so, my grandma more recently. I start bagging the groceries. The checker finishes with scanning my coupons and I swipe my card.  As he hands me my receipt he folds it up and says, "You've got a lot of messages here at the bottom, but nothing too important.  Good luck with your surgery! I'm sure you'll like it!"

My surgery?  Indeed, my left contact is blurry today and the post-nasal drip happening in the back of my throat is also plugging up my right ear occasionally. I may feel old, but do I look cataract-old?! I just pass right over his comment.

"I'm going to park this cart right here while I collect my daughter from the Easter aisle," I say as I swing my purse over my shoulder.  My preschooler had spent the last eight minutes swinging on the patio swing in the middle of the holiday aisle.  I hope that it will be many, many years before I'm having cataract surgery!


bell peppers photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pchee/19573313/">Computer Science Geek</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>