Hi all.
My name is Louis. My son Joshua was born on memorial day of this year with a bilateral cleft lip and pallette. Otherwise, he was healthy 7 lbs 3oz, delivered right before 36 weeks.
Suprisingly, he eats about 2oz of breastmilk from a haberman bottle every 2 hours. they even let him go home from the hospital after 3 days.
We ran the gammut of emotions you all describe. Shock, pain, guilt, blame, sorrow, but we were elated that there was nothing worse. and reached down and found the strength to learn and conquer.
I am trying my best to get all the options possible before deciding on a team of specialists, and which type of surgery.
On the one hand, there's the regular approach. thats the one that everyone seems to be saying. lip in 3 mo., pallette in 1 year or 16 months.
Then theres Dr Magee's approach. This is the dr. from Va. that operates on the lip in 3 days and the pallete at a month. sometimes he does both at once.
Has anyone had this done? I assume getting it done earlier allows the child to develop speech at a much younger age, therefore eliminating much of the speech difficulty encountered by a child having the procedure done at a later age.
The longer theory is that the skull needs to develop more before surgery is performed.
Does the child that has the surgery done early have to undergo more procedures later on because of bone development but have the benefit of having his pallette for speech earlier?
Does the shorter approach have any more dangers than the longer approach? Which one has better physical results?
This fourum has both enlightened me, given me hope, yet also frightened me beyond words. The people with the horror stories about growing up with this condition make me feel like I have inadvertantly condemned my poor child to a life of ridicule, shame and hopelessness. They are only overshadowed by those who chose to have hope, and a positive attitude toward the rehabilitation of themselves or their children.
peace to you all.
Louis
zaks_dad@hotmail.com