Frankie's Updates

Scoliosis revision surgeon search update!

As some you may already know last year I went to New York to see Dr. Boachie, he is a great guy and I did like him a lot. He is a top-notch world-renowned surgeon and I was very happy to get an appointment with him. However, he told me that he only ever seen two other cases as severe as mine and that it would take two procedures one posterior going in (from the back) and the other (anterior) going in from the chest. But first you need a series of test to see if it was even possible, he is a very cautious doctor, WHICH IS GREAT! Unfortunately CT myelogram that he needs, I have been unsuccessful in getting here in Vegas. THE GOOD NEWS IS, I saw the special discovery channel with Dr. Boachie, It was a fantastic documentary and will be on again this month I think on the 23rd of December. I e-mailed his office again the very next day, and will be going out to see him again in the spring, hopefully I can spend a week and they can do all the test they need right there in New York. This way I can be sure all the tests are up to his standards and exactly what he wants.

If after all of the testing everything is acceptable I will begin the long journey of physically, financially and emotionally preparing myself, GIVING IT MY BEST SHOT! Physically, I've just had so many operations in my life, I'm just not sure of anything. Emotionally, I'm not trying to fool anyone I'm terrified! And to help pay for some of the medical expenses and aftercare cost I've decided that I really have no other option but to auction or sell my cherished gambler style black suit that Johnny Cash gave to me. I was only able to wear it once on my wedding day in 1978. I truly hate even the thought of having to part with this most wonderful memory in my life, but I know that if I am going to WIN THIS BATTLE, I'm going to have to prepare, and we all know how expensive medical costs, travel expenses and aftercare can be. And in my heart I know that John understands more than most my situation.

March 30, 2008

Here is an e-mail I just received from Dr. Boachie's office regarding my upcoming surgeries in July and August. The countdown is on please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Dear Frankie--

Right now, Lindy has your first surgery scheduled on July 30, with a second stage on August 6. This means you will be admitted to HSS on July 15 or 16, after which your halo will be placed. You will have two weeks in halo traction prior to surgery. At HSS, we have a Complex Case Review Panel (CCRP) that reviews especially complicated cases and--guess what--you qualify! At these meetings, the multi-specialty panel reviews all aspects of the patient and his/her problems, and Your "case" will be presented at the CCRP Meeting in late April. Among the topics covered will be the likely complications, insofar as can be predicted, following your surgery.

Lindy's email address is maierl@hss.edu. Please don't worry about being a bother,since you're not. I'm just sorry that there has been such an email demand recently!

Mary Bennett

On July 15th., Frankie will be admitted to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York where he will undergo MAJOR multiple surgeries for spinal reconstruction by one of the country's leading scoliosis specialists Dr.Oheneba Boachie-Adjei M.D. Frankie will be in the hospital for possibly over two months with up to a year or more for recovery. If you would like to be a part in helping "Frankie's Dream" finally come true by helping him with the overwhelming expenses of travel, medical and aftercare, your financial gift or donation in any amount would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

For those of you who might want to hear a very special song I wrote called "SHE'S MAMA" just click on the link below. The song is very special to me because I actually wrote it as a tribute to Johnny Cash's mama shortly after she passed away. In all my years that I knew and performed on Johnny Cash's shows I never once asked him to record any song I wrote, mainly because I never thought I wrote anything good enough for him and his "one-of-a-kind" amazing voice.

However, when I wrote SHE'S MAMA I had every intention to have him hear this song because I knew how much he loved his mama and I wanted to try and give him something that might have been as special to him as all of the WONDERFUL memories he had given me. Unfortunately right after I recorded the song I was hospitalized and the master recording was placed away in my closet. The years continued to go by as I kept fighting numerous health problems and the master tape had slipped from my memory, thinking it was lost forever.

Then Johnny Cash's wife, June Carter Cash passed away, and only months later John also passed away. I was devastated, while also just coming out of a nursing home, physically not able to do much of anything but being given the opportunity to live once again because of a WONDERFUL 69 year old personal caregiver by the name of Wanda, who has been with me now for eight years and allows me to live a normal life with dignity. she has actually saved my life on more than one occasion and I have no doubt that she is an angel that was sent to me by God.

To make a long story short, one day Wanda was looking through and cleaning out my closet when she came across the old demo cassette tape of "SHE'S MAMA" and asked me what it was? I told her it was a song that I had written many years ago in the memory of Johnny Cash's mother and actually thought it was lost. When Wanda listened to the cassette tape tears came to her eyes as she said just knowing how much I loved Johnny Cash it was truly sad that he never heard my song.

But I am a person that believes all things happen for a reason, and today my own mother is in the last stages of Alzheimer's disease, and so for everyone who has a Mama that they love with all their heart that may no longer be with them, this is my song.

She's Mama

other birth day on September 24 and we j

ust won't talk about the age :-) portion. I also went