A Patient's Eye View of Cataract Removal

Here's Daniel Menaker's take on the start of his recent cataract surgery: “'Oh, that’s very nice,' I say, as the mild sedative takes hold just before Dr. Nagel performs cataract surgery on my left eye in the ambulatory-surgery facility at Mount Sinai Hospital. 'I can see why people become addicts,' I add, beginning the Sedative Gabble, which I will approximate here. 'Do you know where the word ‘cataract’ comes come — from?' I mumble. 'Probably from the Latin cataracta, but not what thu yink. You think. Not for like a waterfowl — fall. From' — and here the sedative makes me pause for at least 30 seconds and then take a deep breath — 'from a meaning of Latin of gate meaning "portcullis" like a castle thing that you can see through a little but barrier.'” So begins "Eyeball of Providence," an essay in the opinion section of the New York Times. "Dr. Nagel, with her back turned to me, arranging some instruments on a tray, it sounds like, says, without much interest — thank God — 'Really.'" Read more.