Valentine's Day - February 14, 2016

Lilit had a very good Valentine's Day.  Visitors started to arrive early and kept on coming through the afternoon, including folks from SOAR, from Lilit's orphanage as well as local friends.  Siranoush continues to take loving care of Lilit through all of these happenings and has begun to challenge her more toward physical recovery.

Lilit got to spend about seven hours with Ella today and they had a wonderful time.  Ella was there to cheer Lilit on when she was asked to sit up in a chair for as long as she could.  She lasted three hours and got more comfortable with sitting as time went by.  Initially she was a little upset about it though, so Ella showed sisterly solidarity by posing for this picture:

Lilit's nurse also asked Ella to encourage Lilit to eat and drink more which she did.  Lilit did a wonderful job increasing her intake today, enjoying mashed potatoes, chocolate pudding, a banana, some juice and fruit smoothie as well as homemade sugar cookies.

The medical team wants Lilit to begin moving her legs more, to stretch them out and to bear weight again.  Lilit is a bit reluctant, but she worked very hard with the physical therapists this morning to stand for the first time since the surgery.

Meanwhile, Ella and Lilit had quite a bit of fun trying to scare the nurses and handing out the Valentine's cards that they prepared yesterday to the staff.  There was much laughter and mischief.

After all this excitement, two precious Armenian princesses needed a nap before they were ready for more visitors.

Overall, Lilit did great today and is well on her way to making it out of PICU.