My son is about 17 months old now and has been on the operating table 4 times with a total of 8 surgeries repairing his lip, palate, feeding tube and hernia.  Most people really want to know about the cleft so let me go over the operations he’s had for that and some difference that occur in other parts of the states/world.

His first surgery was to repair his bi-lateral cleft lip.  This surgery seems pretty basic “Sew the lips together”, but in all honesty it’s very complex.  First you have to cut open all 4 surfaces and then attache the muscles and the flesh, all while trying to form a good looking lip.  (Our son’s doctor did a great job Dr. Warnock).  But in Utah they also put a prosthetic palate in his mouth, most other states do not do this.

His next surgery for his cleft was supposed to be to repair his soft palate only, but my wife and I did research that said doing the hard palate at this time had advantages, and also only Utah did the prosthetic.  We consulted with our son’s doctor and he agreed to do it.  His stance was that’s the way everyone in Utah was taught since they were taught by the same doctor, so they all did it that way.  However, there’s not hard evidence that says one way is greater than the other.  If we didn’t do the hard palate at this time we would have another surgery when our son was 4.  So long story short they did everything on this final surgery.  Soft Palate, Hard Palate, Nasal Passage repair, Dental Notches…

Our son came out of this surgery very well, one great advantage is when he sneezes very little comes out of his nose now   [if you have a cleft palate kid you'll know what I mean].

I think the biggest thing to remember is it is not easy for a parent of a cleft to hear “Well at least the can correct it”, because their child is going to have a series of MAJOR surgeries.  If you know someone with a cleft baby, tell them “It’s going to be tough and possibly a lot of surgery, if you need anything we’ll be here for you.”  (you get the point).  But the good news after seeing my son’s battle with being a preemie and the cleft, I know he’s a tough kid and will get through just about anything placed before him.  Also I have a new set of fancy words that I know… In the great words of Homer J. Simpson “I am so smart S.M.R.T”