Helping Frankie after Revision Spinal Surgery

UPDATE -

11/16

Frankie came home last night after a huge fiasco trying to get his prescriptions for all of his pain medications. 3 pharmacies and still had to pay out of pocket because insurance wouldn’t cover them!  He has full use of his arm again, Thank goodness!! 

He is still in a lot of pain, and has a long road ahead of him. The scar is longer than the last one!

He will be resting at home until his follow up appointment next Tuesday! 

Please continue to pray him in your prayers! 

11/12/23

Frankie is still in the hospital. He is can not move his left arm, and is still in tremendous pain. They did a CT scan, but we have not heard any results yet. We are praying for good news!! Please keep Frankie in your prayers!

11/9/23

Frankie is in a lot of pain and discomfort. Different from the first surgery. The Pain Management team is working to try and make him comfortable! He will be staying in the hospital through the weekend! 

11/7/23

Surgery was a Revision C2 -T2 Posterior Cervical Decompression & Fusion. The surgeon said that everything went well. He is in a lot of discomfort and pain. He will be in the hospital until at least Friday!

Hello,

My husband Frankie Velazquez, had a life altering swimming accident on August 5, 2022. He broke and shattered several vertebrae in his neck which required surgery to fuse his C2 - T2 Vertebrae. They installed 2 rods and 10 screws to support his head and neck. He also needed to have surgery to relieve the swelling below his scalp from the wound on the top of his head from when his head hit the bottom of the lake.

To say that he is very lucky to be alive and walking/talking & laughing is an understatement!

We are very grateful for the blessings we have received!

It has been a long and very painful journey since his surgeries. Frankie spent many months using a walker because he was not able to walk on his own. Once he was was able to remove the neck brace, he started many months of physical therapy trying to regain the strength that was lost. Not all of the strength, in his arms and shoulders, is able to come back.

He was told that he will have severe pain for the rest of his life.

When we learned that the fourth of the titanium screws that were installed to support his upper neck had broken and are no longer attached to the rods so this area has not fused and healed as it should have we decided to get a second opinion.

Today, November 7, 2023, Frankie will undergo another surgery to remove as much of the broken screws as possible, if not all of the hardware, then they will install new screws and hardware. The doctors are hoping to be able to minimize some of his daily pain. But, the ultimate goal is to stabilize his neck. They said he should expect to spend a few days in the hospital. Then, depending on how he is doing at discharge, he may need to go to a rehabilitation facility for a few days before being able to come home.

Frankie has not been able to work since the accident and will not be able to work for many months following this surgery, if at all. The company that he worked for did not offer short or long term disability insurance. The state medical leave only lasted until early December. So, it has been almost a year without a paycheck. This has caused a financial hardship that we have been struggling to keep up with.

We have held off for as long as we could, but before going under, we are reaching out for some help!

Thank you all!

Susan & Frankie Velazquez