手术，护理允许出生的孩子嘴唇和口感吹泡泡，还有更多
现年7岁的Jae Beltran看到儿科整形外科医生Matthew Greives，医学博士，进行年度检查，以监视他的嘴唇裂痕和味蕾。（照片由Sonia Estrada提供）
看似简单的举动标志着现年7岁的Jae的主要里程碑，他出生时出生嘴唇和pa裂 - 当婴儿的嘴唇或嘴巴在怀孕期间无法正确形成时，出生缺陷。
埃斯特拉达（Estrada）说：“我觉得自己做错了什么，但医生向我保证，我无能为力。”埃斯特拉达（Estrada）在怀孕大约五个月后得知她的儿子会出生出生缺陷。“我以前对它是什么不了解。我必须学习一切。”
About one in every 1,600 babies is born with cleft lip and palate in the U.S. annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children with the birth defects often have problems with feeding and speaking clearly, and are at higher risk for ear infections, hearing deficits, and dental problems.
Before Jae was born, Estrada’s OB-GYN told her that she would need to find a cleft team because her son would require multiple surgeries. Estrada was lined up with an expert team at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center.
当Jae于2014年7月15日到达时，一位协调员在儿童纪念馆赫尔曼医院的康复室拜访了新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）的婴儿。这是协调员的休息日，吸引了新母亲。
“这只是决定对我来说很容易,”Estrada said. “I didn’t have to think twice about where I was going to go and which doctor I was going to see.”
到Jae大约3个月大的时候，他需要手术来修复他的嘴唇。（照片由马里兰州马修·格雷夫（Matthew Greives）提供）
当时，格雷夫（Greives）是休斯顿乌西顿（Uthealth Houston）的全新新兵，他告诉埃斯特拉达（Estrada），如果她对Jae的整形外科医生不满意，他可以将她指向另一位医生。但是，较长的埃斯特拉达（Estrada）与格雷夫（Greives）交谈，她感到越舒适，她决定继续制定格雷夫（Greives）为刚出生的孩子制定的游戏计划。
“Because cleft lip and palate is such a visible defect, it often leads people to incorrectly believe that there’s something wrong with the child mentally or physically,” said Greives, who is now the director of the Texas Cleft-Craniofacial Team, one of the largest and longest-running cleft teams in the state of Texas. “But as we get better at doing surgery, these kids are far more likely to develop normally and play sports, go to school, and have friends. So while it is very visible, it is absolutely treatable, and it’s not as scary as it initially seems.”
在医学博士Matthew Greives进行了几次手术之后，Jae现在可以吹泡泡，吃拉面和微笑。（照片由马里兰州马修·格雷夫（Matthew Greives）提供）
“In the first-stage surgery, when Jae was around 3 months old, we glued the lip together,” Greives said. “Then, when he was 5 or 6 months old, we performed a full cleft lip repair.”
在手术中，Greives能够重建Jae的上唇，通过关闭裂缝，沿着嘴唇中心形成曲线，从而使其看起来更正常，并在其上唇和鼻子之间形成足够的距离。
当Jae年满1岁时，Greives执行了另一项修复裂口的程序，这发生在负责正常语音的鼻腔腔的地板上，这发生在不正确的情况下。手术关闭了口感。
随后的几年，格雷夫斯（Greives）看到JAE进行年度检查。但是直到2021年12月，Jae才采取了另一个程序。这次，骨移植手术可以修复他的口香线和下巴。
Greives说：“我们试图延迟骨移植手术，直到成年牙齿开始进入，通常大约在6或7岁左右。”“这全都是为了保护Jae的成年牙齿。”
到目前为止，Jae对他最近的手术做出了很好的反应。5月的CT扫描将确定JAE的下一步，包括他是否能够获得牙套。
如今，热爱数学并迅速保护其婴儿表亲的精力充沛的二年级学生仍在处理一些牙科问题，并且仍在言语治疗中。但是，每当耶吹泡泡或吃拉面（现在是他最喜欢的菜肴之一）时，埃斯特拉达（Estrada）微笑着看到他走了多远。
不管CT扫描显示什么，Estrada都对Jae所获得的护理和对他的未来的持乐观态度表示感谢。
“He’s on the right track with all these procedures,” Estrada said. “Because Dr. Greives is so honest with me and doesn’t sugarcoat anything, it makes me feel a lot better. Parents who have a child with cleft lip and palate should know that this process is going to be hard in the beginning, and you’re going to feel like you can’t do it anymore, but it will be worth it in the end.”
撰写人：凯蒂·巴克利（Caitie Barkley），《乌西卫生媒体关系》 |2022年1月24日
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