Well, I saw the surgeon - one who has a very high reputation. He said my cataracts were Grade 4, nuclear + PSC mixed, and the lens hardness was +4 on a scale of 0 to 6. He said that if I asked him to remove my cataracts, he would do it, but frankly admitted to me that "cataract surgery does not restore normal vision to what it was before the cataracts", and that patients experience all kinds of trouble post-op, so I should prepare myself for that eventuality. Of course, when you're faced with going blind, you don't have much choice, and many people do have good visual outcomes.
He also said I knew far more about cataracts than he did, although his wife was also an ophthalmologist and a lecturer on the retina and cornea at a university. I asked him to introduce someone doing cataract research, and he echoed my lament that he knew of no-one in this country. Finally, I said I would try to hold out until maybe December, when there may be clinical trials of non-surgical methods.