Update

I guess an update is in order.

Yes, I had the surgery. There were two goals- getting a new eardrum and possibly a prosthesis for the stapes. Well, I have an eardrum. But no new stapes. Seems I suffer from tympanosclerosis of the ossicle chain. So that surgery is out. All of the bones are so brittle that they can't conduct the vibrations anymore, at least not very well. But until I had working eardrum, nothing else was really possible.

I thought I was hearing better but then I remembered the properties of sound. It travels much better through a solid than a gas. And since my ear is packed on both sides of the eardrum with SuperFoam, sound has been traveling quite well through there. The packing is coming out and my hearing is diminishing.

Still hurts some, taking pain pills at night. The doc says it's just the healing process. Sometimes the pain pisses me off, distracts me from what I am trying to accomplish, but over all I trying to stay positive.
This is just the 1st step. I'm sure this will work out. And even if I can't have a different reconstructive surgery (as the doc has hinted at) then I can still get a hearing aide.