More Surgery---Today

Khan is having his other ear ablated today at approximately 1:30. This is all happening very fast for me. What happened is that I took him in yesterday both for a checkup and because I had noticed his right ear was starting to develop yeast, and plugs (made of wax and exudate). I also asked for a chest x-ray to check on that spot in his lung, a blood panel and urinalysis to check his kidney function, and his Adequan injection.

I left him at the clinic around noon and was going back at 5pm to pick him up. Coincidentally, the surgeon who had done his other ablation was at a meeting I attended at 4pm, so I mentioned that Sebastian was in the clinic and he said he had seen him and looked at his ear. But that's all he said. When I got there at 5, after waiting for about 30 minutes (they were in a procedure) the doctor on call for the feline service came out with a student and talked to me. They said several doctors had looked at the ear, including the surgeon (which I knew already), and that all were of the opinion that we should go ahead and to the total ablation on that side as well. He did, indeed, have yeast (no bacteria) but they felt like the ablation was inevitable. Then the doctor said that the surgeon had an opening at 1:30pm the next day! Yikes!

I sat with them for about 15 min and just "talked out loud" the pros and cons that I knew. The doctor couldn't add much--I'd been through this before--but it made me realize they were right and that eventually we were going to have to do it. The risks and the monetary cost both gave me pause. It will be another $2000 or so, and we JUST finished paying off the last one from last December. I am not too worried about his loss of hearing--the ear plugs have pretty much made that the case now, and I know he must be in discomfort to boot.

They kept him last night. (Boy, did I miss him!) They're going to call me this morning to confirm everything, then they'll call me after he is anesthetized and then again after the operation is done. He'll stay overnight, of course, and maybe for 2 nights.

Gotta get going, but I'll update later.