Belated further response.
I'd never stopped to think about long term aspects of grommets, or, for that matter, that anything might be able to be done with a damaged eardrum. I now have a silly image of a surgeon darning it like a hole in a sock. Well, I guess whatever gets done is a bit less, erm, home-made than that, but maybe they can do something.
I'm not clear - is your other ear ok? (If I've not got my brain in gear and you did say, my apologies.)