Good morning smiles

Last night I avoided going into a particular patient's room because I knew it meant a lot of work. He was on 'droplet precautions', meaning I would need to put on a gown, gloves and mask every time I entered his room. Also, he was notoriously bad-tempered and the other nurses had complained about him quite a bit. He was fussy about everything and he couldn't breathe very well and I could hear him yelling and grumping when the other nurses went in his room.... Early in the morning I finally put on my whole space-suit get-up and went in to him, hearing him sneezing and gasping for breath.
"Good morning! How are you today? I'm sorry that you can't see my face, so you don't know what I look like, but I have to wear all these ridiculous things just to come in and talk to you."
He grunted in response and demanded that I empty his urinal. After I emptied it and put it back in exactly the right spot he said, "Well, I can tell you're pretty even with the mask on."
I laughed. "Oh, I don't know about that! I could be completely fooling you!"
That got a smile from him and he returned, "Even if you were completely covered, sweetheart, I'm sure you'd still look sexy. I just can't see you very well because I'm blind in one eye and half-blind in the other."
We laughed together and I spent some time fetching him this and that, getting him clean clothes, helping him bathe. He started to get more positive and I talked to him about the bible he had on his desk and what it meant, and all the books he liked to read. When I'd finally settled him in his bed he was still gasping for breath but he looked cheerful.
'Well," I said, "I have to go now, and I know you can't see it, but I'm giving you a 'good morning smile' under this mask."
I smiled at him under my mask and he wheezed, "Oh, I can tell you're smiling, sweetheart. You know how I know? When you smile, your eyes crinkle up."
When I left the room we were both in a good mood. I thought, how wonderful to make him cheer up! It's not one of those things that people get Nobel prizes or scholarships or acclamation for, but at that moment, it was the most important thing in the world that I could have possibly done.