Touching moment

I worked the day shift today in the hospital ward and took care of a 12 year old boy. He came in last week with a cleft lip and palate. He needed extensive reconstructive surgery and was pretty miserable this past week as he was recovering. Today, I found him playing with toys but still looking miserable. He said that he wasn't in any pain but I could tell that he wasn't happy. I removed the packing from his nose and cleaned his suture line above his lip. I then brought him a mirror and for the first time I saw him smile. He hadn't seen himself in a mirror since surgery without all the gauze and tubes sticking out of him. Now he looked normal and he was happy. He stared in the mirror for 15 minutes and couldn't believe what he saw. He saw a very handsome boy and tears ran down his face. A very touching moment indeed.