I tell people that the best thing that ever happened to me was my cataracts. In first grade I could not see the blackboard, which gives you a clue as to how very nearsighted I was. Luckily, I was born in a century where I could get good glasses, and later contact lenses. The cataracts happened later. I'd been aware for about fifteen years that I was growing them, and then my current eye doctor told me it was time for the surgery.
At first I thought about putting it off until Medicare, because I might not have to pay as much. I phoned a friend of mine a woman a good fifteen years older, and she said, "Sheila, are you nuts??? Get the surgery!" I followed her advice.
Yes, I paid several hundred dollars out of pocket, and I appreciate that I could afford to do so. The most interesting thing was that at age 63 I was invariably the youngest person in the room when I went to my various appointments connected to the cataract surgery. Partly because I was a bit on the young side for this, but more because the slightly older generation remembered when their own parents had gone through it, and what a big deal cataract surgery was back then.
Now, it's a piece of cake. My vision is better than it has ever been in my life. Yeah, I still need reading glasses, but that's trivial. I CAN SEE! What I like best is looking off in the distance. Everything is sharp in a way I had never experienced before.
So get the surgery.