04/06/2026
The other day, a patient told me, "Last time I was in, you told me a joke and I told it to so many people but I forgot what it was about."
I asked her if it was the one about the cat and she said it was. I told her that I usually only told that joke to people with cataracts. She said that despite her young age, she had cataracts. Here is the joke:
There were two brothers, the older one went on a trip leaving his cat in the care of his younger brother. Halfway through the trip, he received a text saying, "Your cat died."
When he got home, he told his brother, "That's not how you should have given me that news. You should have sent me a text saying, "The cat is on the roof", another saying, "He fell off the roof", another saying "He is hurt pretty bad". After all those texts, preparing me, you could let me know that the cat had died."
Several weeks later the older brother goes on another trip. A few days in, he receives a text, "Mother's on the roof."
What does this joke have to do with cataracts? Inside your eye, there is a lens. If this lens isn't clear, you have a cataract. Usually early cataracts don't have much impact on people's vision. In fact, cataract surgery is not recommended until poor vision keeps the person from activities that are important. I do like to let people know about their cataracts early on because we all need time to mentally prepare for something like eye surgery.
