Old? B-b-but...

I found out I have cataracts. I thought only old people get cataracts. I can't have them! Boo-hoo-hoo!

I've been having decreasing vision and seeing glare around lights at night for a while, so I figured I may as well get my eyes checked out and get new prescription. I got kind of a surprise when the eye doctor(optometrist) sent me to another eye doctor(opthamologist) and he sent me to yet another eye doctor(surgeon).

So the verdict is I have cataracts and need to have my eye lenses replaced surgically with implants. They can only do one eye at a time (in case you go blind???), so I have two surgery dates scheduled, Nov. 3 and Nov. 17. And of course, two co-pays to go along with two surgeries. By the way, my co-pays and deductibles went way up this year, did yours?

For over 5 years I have been wearing "mono-vision contacts", which means one eye corrects for near-sightedness and the other eye corrects for far-sightedness, instead of wearing bi-focals. (yeah, I know, I should have realized I was old then.) Little did I anticipate, but cataract surgery also corrects all of your vision problems, no more contacts, YAY, so I am having the lens implants done the same way, as mono-vision. My other choice would be to correct both eyes for far-sightedness, and wear glasses for reading, computer work, seeing the dashboard when I drive, and other stuff like that. Or correct both eyes for far-sightedness, but then wear a contact in one eye to turn myself back into mono-vision. Or get bi-focal lens implants, but that costs $3000 more, so you see why I couldn't go that way.

I'm very nervous about going with the "mono". I really don't know why, I've been correcting my vision like this way for 5 years and it's worked fine, but now it just seems so permanent. I mean, once I do the surgery, there is no going back and changing it if I'm not happy. The surgeon said her mom did it as mono and is very glad. I guess that is meant to reassure me that I'm making the right decision.

Do any of you wear mono contact lenses? What would you do for the surgery? I'm sooo confused, I keep changing my mind. As if I weren't already nervous enough about the prospect of somebody operating on my eye, while I'm awake! They said they'll give me something to relax, but that never really works that well on me. And of course I get local anesthesia on my eye.

At least the first eye is the one being corrected for the far-sightedness, so I'll still have time to change my mind about the second eye before Nov. 17, depending on the results. What to do, what to do????