Those Ears! Those Ears!

[For those who don't recognize it, the title references Rudolph's Shiny New Year--remember Baby New Year with the big ears?]
When we adopted Khan, we learned he had a lot of growths in his ears, polyps which blocked his hearing and had caused massive infections (they had probably been there for years). The first surgeon we spoke with wanted him to have both ear canals completely removed and the ears sewn shut, basically resulting in deafness, but no more infections. We really didn't want him to go through that trauma so we spoke to a second surgeon who said it might be possible to do ear canal resectioning, which removes the vertical canal (where bacteria become trapped) and creates a new opening for the ears. It didn't guarantee the polyps wouldn't grow back, and it meant the risk of recurrent infections. There was also the possibility that the more drastic surgery would be needed later anyway. I consulted with Shadowcats, and everyone agreed that we wanted to try the less radical procedure first. The surgery was done last September and was very successful. However, the left ear canal had grown very narrow from the past infections and and it has an excessive waxy discharge. So even though his right ear is like new, his left will always need daily care. I clean out the discharge with Cerulytic solution every other night, and wash the fur under his ears on the alternating nights to remove the deposits that have dried there. He really hates having his ear fussed with. The skin there is thin, so if he scratches at it, it bleeds. (He had to wear a hateful E-Collar for weeks after surgery!) I'm also seeing polyps on his ear flaps beginning to grow back, so they may be growing back inside as well. Chances are, he'll eventually lose the left ear. But we're going to hold that off as long as possible. His hearing isn't good now--really, it's mostly gone on the left side. But he has adapted well, and we just have to remember not to "sneak up" and startle him when he's resting!