Gobbo Posted December 9, 2009 Posted December 9, 2009 Wishing Bertus a full and speedy recovery.I was riding down club street yesteday morning , must havebeen just ahead of you guys , left with the 9th street guys.As for that ass.... in the bakkie , one day he will have his turn.The guy in the car BIG UP !!
David #7 Posted December 9, 2009 Posted December 9, 2009 Bertus, get well soon. Hope you make a full recovery quickly. God Bless
Dirtbreath Posted December 9, 2009 Posted December 9, 2009 Very sorry to hear this sad news. Hope he recovers fully and quickly. Can someone please explain: 1. How your foot slips off the pedal when standing up. Was he in clip in pedals? Did they unclip or was he on platforms? 2. Did he sustain such severe injuries even with a helmet on? Was he going fast? Are our helmets insufficient protection or are we lucky only have this kind of injury and the alternative is unthinkable. Dont mean to veer off a sensitive topic but if it helps us avoid/reduce a similar incident.
Danger Dassie Posted December 9, 2009 Posted December 9, 2009 Freak accident! Hope he speeds up recovery and stomps those pedals soon!
Andyr249 Posted December 9, 2009 Posted December 9, 2009 Hope Bertus has a speedy recovery!Dirtbreath - even clipped in your foot can slip off. Apply slightly too much force in a certain way and your foot can unclipped. Remember Armstrong's foot slipping in the Tour a few years back. And standing up there is more chance of the lateral movement to unclip.
jmaccelari Posted December 9, 2009 Author Posted December 9, 2009 Just got news from Garth who was in the ward. Bertus is still in a coma on a ventilator, but stable. The plan seems to be to start to operate on his face tomorrow to start putting it back together. The major problems are his jaw and the eye-socket/nose area (basically the majority of the left side of his face) which they are going to try to put back together again. If all goes well they will bring him round to consciousness on Friday. Not much news until then...
jmaccelari Posted December 9, 2009 Author Posted December 9, 2009 1. How your foot slips off the pedal when standing up. Was he in clip in pedals? Did they unclip or was he on platforms?Happens often(ish). There's a lot of guys with sore knackers who willattest to that. He had clipless pedals and I checked his cleats and theywere in excellent condition. IMHO:I don't think there was any stupidity involved. Bertus is an experiencedVet with a very calm demeanour. The guys say he just stood up to putsome power down and "bliksemed" off.. 2. Did he sustain such severe injuries even with a helmet on? Was he going fast? Are our helmets insufficient protection or are we lucky only have this kind of injury and the alternative is unthinkable.Again' date=' my opinion:He was not going fast. The bunch was riding in a very relaxed manner atabout 40kph (we do 50/55 when we're tonking it down there...). He probably put his weight forward as he stood up and when his footcame loose, the bars pulled and he went over them. I don't think heput his hands down at all as they were still on the bars and went facefirst into the road. The helmet took a lot of damage - it was totally trashed in the front - andwhen I say totally, I mean totally. Thanks to Bell he's hurt and not dead.It would appear the major damage came from the left side of his facehitting the tarmac - maybe he turned his head? I noted he had landed onhis left shoulder, too. A typical "face plant". Dont mean to veer off a sensitive topic but if it helps us avoid/reduce a similar incident. We all need to learn...
Dirtbreath Posted December 9, 2009 Posted December 9, 2009 Thanks for the info. Please keep us updated on his condition.
jmaccelari Posted December 10, 2009 Author Posted December 10, 2009 Latest from our roving reporter on the scene: Bertus is undergoing his first op today: 2-2.5 hours with the plastic surgeonand maxillo-facial this afternoon at 16:00. His fever is down and is looking better. More scans tomorrow to check how the haemorrhaging on the brain isgoing and it still looks like they'll lift the coma and get him off the ventilator. My thoughts will be with him tonight... I'm looking forward to tomorrow for some good news. jmaccelari2009-12-10 06:01:26
flex Posted December 10, 2009 Posted December 10, 2009 Thanks for the update. Thoughts and prayers are continuously with him and his family.
gummibear Posted December 10, 2009 Posted December 10, 2009 Will keep him in our thought and prayers.I hope all goes well.
stevenvj Posted December 10, 2009 Posted December 10, 2009 Wishing you well BertusOur thoughts and prayers are with you at this time and wish for your speedy recovery
jmaccelari Posted December 10, 2009 Author Posted December 10, 2009 Bertus got out of theatre at 21:00 last night. Apparently the fixing of the facial bones went well. Will have an update this afternoon...
jmaccelari Posted December 11, 2009 Author Posted December 11, 2009 Bertus is still stable and the doctors are trying to bring him around. I thought it was a case of merely stopping the drugs and waking him up, but apparently it's a lot more complex and can take a couple of days. This is apparently quite normal. He'll be going for an EEG later today...
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