For most people, cataract surgery is quick and relatively painless. You lie on your back, lightly sedated, while the surgeon uses a highly precise laser to remove the cloudy lens from your eye, then replaces it with an implantable one. Harry Nolan is not most people. The nerves to his diaphragm are paralyzed. Lying on his back would cause him to stop breathing. Being sedated could do the same. That's when Duke doc Alan Carlson stepped in to help
