TravelingGramma ... have not had cataract surgery but have had two other eye surgeries. One was to remove a small growth on my eye-ball ... it was like a small cyst on the surface of eye. One quick swipe with a scalpel and it was gone. The other eye surgery was Lasik and I had both eyes done. The surgery itself was relatively painless and fairly quick - and from what I heard somewhat similar to cataract surgery as in both cases the lens of the eye has to be lifted.
Lasik surgery is WEIRD though. They fit a ring around the orbit of your eye to keep it open and immobile. I couldn't see or feel the incision, and after it they had to smooth the lens back into place and I did see that happening, it was like a little windshield wiper going across my eye. SOOO WEIRD!! They had given me a Valium pre-op to relax me and told me to keep my eyes closed as much as possible post-op. So I had my eyes closed the whole 45 minute trip home. When I felt the car stop in our drive I opened my eyes and immediately shut them because I felt *something* running out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I put my hands to my cheek to wipe off the "wet stuff" and held my palms out to my husband and asked him "what color are my hands" with a very anxious voice. He said "why - they're normal". Oh thank God ... I just wanted to make sure it wasn't blood or he was turning the car around to drive right back. But it was just water from my eyes running.
That moment of worry was the only bad thing about my surgery. Very little pain, minor discomfort, and my vision is 20-15 (as opposed to 20-500).
So no worries ... go get the cataracts taken care of and you'll be good as gold.