Is there someplace where I can get information on what my ophthalmologist is
telling me in language that I can understand?  She is supposedly very good
at cataract treatment and glaucoma treatment, and has a pleasant
personality.  However, when she talks to me about what she proposes to do in
replacing the cataract she will take out in early August she leaves me
behind and I can't get her to tell me in terms that I can understand.

I have been near-sighted for 68 years (no doubt for 7 years before that,
too, but I was 7 years old when I found out about it) and am perfectly
satisfied to be so, wearing glasses,  for most of the things that I do.
However, I do need to be able to drive (my husband's health is a little
unstable) at least part of the time, so must be able to see well enough at a
distance to do that.  At the moment my ophthalmologist says that the reason
my distance vision is so poor is due to the cataracts in both eyes.

Most of my life is indoors, using the computer, sewing machine, reading, but
also reading music (I am a professional violinist).  I don't mind wearing
glasses to do any of that--or anything else, for that matter--as long as it
makes it possible for me to SEE well enough to do  it.

One reason I have been reluctant to have the cataract operation is that as
it is now, if I need to see something really small--tiny type, a very small
screw, stitches that need to be ripped, etc., --I can take off my glasses
and see perfectly well to do it by putting the object about 6 inches from my
face.  At concerts I can read the program in a very dim light if I can take
off my glasses and get the program about 5-6 inches from my eyes.

At home, when I have sewing problems I have tried using a magnifying glass,
but it does not help nearly as much as just taking off my glasses and
getting the thing, whatever it is, very close to my eye.

Dr. W says she will make me a minus 2, whatever that is.  When I ask her to
explain I get more technical stuff that is way over my head.  I gather that
I will be seeing enough at a driving distance, and perhaps at a normal
reading distance.  Will I lose the ability to see very small things up
close?  Every time I have resolved that I MUST have the cataract removed I
have an episode at home where I need to see something tiny up close and
taking off the glasses does the trick.

I am perfectly willing to wear glasses for both near and far if I can get a
pair (bifocals, no doubt) that allow me to see up close (REALLY close) as
well as at a distance.

Any pointers to explanations of technical specifications translated into LAY
terms would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Lj. F.