I gave him one last kiss and walked out, leaving the surgeons to do their work
Akiva’s first surgery was when he was a tiny three months old. The procedure, which is mainly cosmetic, closes the lip and attaches all the split muscles in the area, and does help somewhat with eating and speech.
When the adult teeth start coming in (usually around 8 years old), kids with cleft generally have a second surgery to repair a cleft in the alveolar ridge, the bony part of the jaw that holds the teeth. This second surgery is mostly about function.
The third, optional, surgery, which some have as teenagers, is to touch up the scars and make the lip look as typical as possible.
On the day of Akiva’s first surgery, only one parent was allowed to accompany him into the operating room. I donned hospital scrubs and followed the little gurney into the OR. The bright lights shone overhead, and we listened to the clatter of technicians preparing scalpels — the ones they would use to cut open our son — as the doctors surrounded Akiva, preparing for the surgery.
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