Mike Montreuil

Cataract

Morning begins with a squirt of Purell. They're so insistent here. Even the secretary, who is registering me, takes a squirt after taking my forms. She tells me wait in the main lounge.

weather channel –
sunny periods
and a chance of rain

My last name is called after two cycles of TV news. Prep time. Now everything is at 100 mph. I want to tell the nurses to slow down, so that I may remember the morning. An old hospital gown is handed to me… "But don't tie it up and keep your pants on."

O.R. bed –
the IV drip
for a diabetic

After countless drops to prepare my eye, an orderly arrives. "We're almost ready for you, Mr? " "Montreal", I answer. "Oh, that's how you pronounce it! And we're operating on your right eye?" I look at Nurse Susan who is still doting over me and sigh. One more drop in my eye. I'm wheeled down the hall where two unshaved men wait for me. From an oversized syringe, anesthetic gel is squeezed onto my eye. I can barely make out my surgeon.

white light surgery –
talking about daughters
and their wants

Later in the afternoon, I decide to just close my left eye. Everything seen with my right eye is clear and bright, without the yellowish tinge of my left. So that's what its like to have cataracts. Two months later, and after the left eye is operated on, my optometrist writes up a new prescription.

new glasses -
the yellow tinge
of the lens coating