Senggigi, Lombok, Indonesia - Day 5
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
It felt strange to wake up this morning at Katamaran Resort without Andi there. He spent the night in the hospital last night recovering from a bacterial infection. We messaged back and forth this morning for a bit, and he said he was feeling better. He didn’t get much sleep last night, but his fever finally broke. Andi had undergone several hours of antibiotics and IV fluids administered intravenously which helped tremendously.
I woke Tory and Aden up around 8:30am and invited them to breakfast in the hotel’s main restaurant. I wasn’t at all hungry, but this was our time to eat before the breakfast buffet closed.
As the three of us walked into the dining area, several restaurant servers rushed over to greet us and ask how Andi was feeling. “He’s still in the hospital,” I told them. “I hope he will be released today.” They all told us how they were thinking of him, and wished Andi well.
Then, the head restaurant chef came out to greet us. He said he’d prepared a special breakfast for us to show how much they were thinking of our family. “Oh, you don’t need to do that!” I told them. The regular breakfast buffet would be fine for us to eat. “Yes, you can have the buffet,” he said, “but I insist on making you a special plate to show our sympathies.”
“Really,” I told our favorite server named Dwi, “the chef does not need to make us a special breakfast.” I wasn’t even hungry, honestly. In fact, my stomach was so full of nervousness for Andi that I almost felt sick myself.
Nevertheless, Dwi returned to our table a few minutes later with a specially-crafted breakfast plate. “The chef insists,” she said with a smile. The plate featured a hard boiled egg with bruschetta, mixed green salad, and cold salmon with whipped cream cheese atop a pancake.
“Can you help me eat this?” I begged Tory and Aden. They both looked at me with disgust and said, “not a chance.”
I choked down bites of salmon, salad, and egg in between gulps of coffee while Tory and Aden ate crepes, hash browns, and chocolate donuts.
It really was so sweet and thoughtful of the chef and the restaurant staff to show such concern for Andi and our family. The Indonesian people are known for their warmth and hospitality, but the Katamaran Resort staff has truly taken this sentiment to the next level. With their whole hearts, I felt the concern and well-wishes of the staff; people who barely know us at all showered our family with so much love.
For as much stress and anxiety I felt in this moment, and longing to be in the comfort and care of our own family and friends back home, I thanked God that we were here in Senggigi when this unfortunate health incident happened to Andi. At least we were safe at the resort, and Andi was getting the treatment he needed at the hospital.
After breakfast, Tory, Aden, and I returned to our hotel room. There wasn’t much for us to do, so Tory and Aden kept themselves occupied by playing Minecraft together. It’s likely out of necessity, but it warms my heart nonetheless watching Tory and Aden hang out together. They get along so well together while we travel; so much family time is a blessing.
I hadn’t heard from Andi whether he would be released from the hospital today, and I couldn’t contact him because his phone battery was dead. My anxiety was through the roof just sitting around the hotel room worrying about him, so I decided to go to the hotel gym to physically release the negative energy. I did a weightlifting workout and then walked on the treadmill. It was a hundred-million degrees inside the gym, but it felt good to sweat.
Andi text me around Noon to say he was on his way back to the hotel. Katamaran Resort sent a private car to the hospital this morning to wait for Andi in the event that he’d be released today. Without even being asked! The staff at this hotel is simply amazing.
Andi arrived back at the resort around 1:00pm. He looked exhausted, but also a million times better than he had the day before. The general manager arrived to our hotel room shortly thereafter. He wanted to personally come to see how Andi was doing, and ask if there was anything the hotel could do to assist in his recovery.
Oddly enough, Andi asked if he’d send someone to our room to adjust the water temperature of our shower. “All I want is to take a hot shower,” Andi said. He felt disgusting after spending 24 hours in the hospital. The temperature of our hotel room shower was warm, but it wasn’t steaming-hot and Andi was hoping there was something the hotel could do to increase the water temperature. A maintenance worker arrived shortly thereafter, and did some adjusting which did help a little bit.
Andi also asked for some chicken soup, white rice, and a bucket of ice which the hotel restaurant kindly delivered to Andi in our suite. Andi said he was starving; he’d barely eaten anything in the past 36 hours. “This soup tastes like heaven,” he said as he slurped it down.
After a warm shower and a bowl of comforting soup, Andi fell asleep in our room. I snuck out to give him some time to rest, and went to the pool with Aden. The sun was hot today; for once, it wasn’t raining this afternoon.
Later, around 7:00pm, the four of us went to dinner at The Sail Restaurant on the resort property. Once again, several of the staff rushed over to us to see how Andi was feeling. They were all so glad to see him up and moving around. We sat oceanside under the twinkling lanterns strung through the trees. Andi asked the chef to prepare a plain chicken breast and white rice for his meal. Aden ordered chicken satay with peanut sauce (sate ayam), and Tory and I each had a quesadilla. After eating here for the past several days, we were all growing a little bored with the menu, but thankful for the ease and flexibility of the restaurant.
Andi and I ended the evening watching a couple episodes of 1923 in our suite while the kids hung out in their own room. Tomorrow, we leave Senggigi and travel to the island of Bali. Hope Andi has enough strength for the passage.
