MEK

Within a matter of a week, I had two great-aunts, a great-uncle and a grandmother in the hospital. It seems that now, everyone is on the mend (MEK--Ill come back to this in a second). It was very touch and go for a while with my grandmother, Maw.
She went in for a somewhat routine, low-maintenance procedure and ended up in the ICU. Its a matter of opinion whether or not the doctor may have caused the complication during the procedure or not. She spent a little over a week in the ICU, was moved to IMC for another week before waking up last Monday morning feeling like a new woman, and like she had been in a bad dream. She literally woke up a different person. The change, the transformation, was unbelievable! I couldn't believe when I saw her last night the change I saw in her from the time before.
She is now in rehab, and making progress. Maw's dear friends, The Rodins came in from St. Louis to see her, so my Aunt Kathy arranged for any family that could to come up to the hospital for dinner with Maw and the Rodins. After dinner, my aunt Julia put on a "concert" with the piano since Maw is such a music buff. My Uncle Leon (Maw's brother) who is also in the rehab recovering from a back procedure came down for the "concert" wearing his pj's. Now, these weren't just any pj's. This 90 something year old man came down wearing pj's with lipstick kisses on it! I wish I got a picture, but my camera is on the fritz and not working. Maw and Uncle Leon sat next to each other holding each others hands. It brought tears to my eyes to see them there for each other.
I hope that when I am 90 years old, my brother and sister will be there for me, holding my hand every step of the way. I don't know what I would do without Ethan and Rachel, they know me about as well as I know myself. I can always lean on them, call them for advice, help, or a laugh.

Going back to MEK.....MEK is an acronym for M'iritz hashem, Ephschahar, Kena Hura. The first two words are Hebrew and the third is Yiddish.
My great-grandmother, Mamma Shcmidt used to use them individually, and Maw combined them into their current form of MEK. It means if G-d wills it, perhaps, and without a hex, kind of a magical phrase to ward of any evil or bad. Its used throughout the whole Kruger side. So much so that there is a street called MEK Drive off of Mesa, there are for boys with the initials of MEK, Eli being one of them. The other MEKs lovingly call him Quatro since he is the fourth MEK....so far. And MEK has been used many times when talking about Maw's progress with this hospital stint.

MEK is a special phrase in our family and one that is very dear to my heart.
Please keep my grandmother in your thoughts and prayers for a speedy and healthy recovery!