the best gift

i had the pleasure of delivering potentially life-saving stem cells to a patient today. he was alone in his room when i barged in with 2 other nurses and a secretary to sing happy birthday. it's a tradition that some of us nurses carry on. and although none of us has a particularly good singing voice, it's a nice way to celebrate a new birth of sorts. my patient was very thankful and excited, disappointed that his wife missed the commotion, but excited nonetheless. thankfully, his wife and sister arrived within a few minutes - before i began to transfuse the cells into his body. we took the obligatory photos! my patient's sister is the donor; she donated her cells yesterday and was able to hold her bag of cells and actually hand them to her brother. as she did this and we documented it on film, i said, "i bet that's the best gift you ever gave!" there were huge hugs and giant tears from all. and i left feeling thankful that some days my job is full of happiness and hope, wishes and dreams.