Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Emily (Henry) Chapman called me a few days ago (on her way to Georgetown) to tell me about Ronny's condition, and then Mondaya night she called to let me know that he had died just an hour earlier. I'm deeply sorry that I cannot come to Georgetown to be with all of you during this time, but I'm just not able to make the trip. I did something to cause a disc bulge the middle of last July, after our family room flooded and a neighbor's tree fell into our back yard, just missing our house. We think that my use of a chain saw the next day to clear away the large tree branches likely caused my problem -- sciatica in my left hip and down my left leg. It was very severe, and we wound up cancelling a long-planned trip to England and Wales -- on August 2nd. I was taking Percocet for the pain, and had begun a series of "pain management shots". The shots were only partially successful and I had lumbar/spinal surgery on October 24th, to shave off the side of the disc bulge that was pressing against a nerve. That seemed to help some, but it wasn't a total success. I'm taking extra strength Tylenol some and Aleve some, but most of the time I'm in pain (at a level of 3 to 4 on a scale of 10=extreme). Walking and standing are both very difficult. Emily reminded me of the name of the Funeral Home there (Graham) and Rachel and I will at least be sending flowers. Some pages of their website are "down" right now for maintenance but they promise the site will be back in full operation soon. We know that Ronny was dearly loved and will be missed by everyone. We send our love too. Duane and Rachel Wills - in Vienna, Virginia
