From Uncle Bob

Here's Uncle Bob's account of his visit with Dick:

Diane and I took the AMTRAK to LA yesterday to visit Dick at the Kaiser facility ICU on Sunset Blvd. After the 2 hour train ride, Deb met us at Union Station and drove us over to Kaiser - about a 10 minute 5 mile ride.

When we arrived in the ICU Dick was sitting up in a large chair next to his bed. He has about 8 tubes and wires connected to him and is in a large neck brace. It was the neck brace, which disturbed me most; the only part of his face which you can see is from the eyebrows to just below his nose. Can't even see his mouth. In spite of all this his spirits are high, his attitude is good and he retains his sense of humor. Communication on his part is by slight head nods, hand gestures and brief notes he writes on a white board or blank sheets of white paper.

As we entered, his eyes lit up and he made a wave hello. At the same time a nurse was reminding him not to cross his legs. Aside from his catheter he has a fungus infection so they want him to keep his legs apart. I had to remind him several times during our visit not to cross his legs. At one point I told him if he crossed his legs AGAIN, his 'dingus' would fall off! That brought a smile to his eyes and face.

I had brought with me photos we took of the plane at the impound yard and a NY Jets ball cap. He wanted to wear the cap (it looks good on him), and also wanted to see the pictures, which I showed him one by one; he studied each one carefully. When he was done he motioned the nurse over and showed them to her. Before we left he had shown them to all the ICU personnel.

After I assured him again, which Debbie had done several times already, that his house, car, cats, and plane were taken care of; he wrote, “I'll never fly again.” I broached the subject of “what happened” and how much could he remember. With nods and gestures and a little prompting on my part, and no hesitation on his, he described what happened.

“The engine stopped.” He tried to restart it. He had gas and the engine instruments, temperature, oil pressure, were OK. He looked for a place to set down. He saw a big field at Perris but (it) was too “high” so he turned to the smaller field in Murrieta and flipped after landing. I was unable to understand whether he had landed hard and broke the landing gear and flipped or dug the nose wheel in and flipped or just hit a rough portion of the field and flipped. He hit his head, had some trouble getting out of the seatbelt harness but managed to crawl out from underneath on his own; then the EMTs came. He did not remember the helicopter ride to LA. When I asked what he thought the problem was, he gave me the famous “Joe Hein” so-what/I don't know shrug. I saw that shrug several times during our talk. I did take the time to reassure him that he had done a good job, followed proper procedures, that no one else had been hurt and that there was no other property damage besides his plane.

I had been monopolizing all his time, so I gave Diane and Debbie a chance to visit with him a bit before we left. Then I told him I would be back again in a week or so.

I'm glad I went. I think it was good for him to talk in “airplane language” a bit and I think he enjoyed it, as did I. Made me feel better, too.

During our visit, and at lunch, I got to speak further with Deb about the many things that have to be done while Dick is rehabbing. I sure do thank both she and Ricky for the job they are doing - stepping up to understanding and managing Dick's affairs during this difficult period. They have everything in hand so that Dick will return to a much more organized life when he is ready.

As to the plane…when I asked, I got the famous Joe Hein shrug. We'll see.

Bob Hein, or uncle Bob, or Dad - depending