The premature babies lay inside incubators and did not stop to collect a stuffed animal. But most other patients did. One small girl in a wheelchair peeked out over her oxygen mask, pointed her finger and said clearly, "the purple one."

Chrisha Froio

Three-year old Chrisha Froio, from Rehoboth, Massachusetts, had a particularly difficult move. Chrisha, who received a bone marrow transplant from her father almost four weeks ago, left her sterile room for the first time since the surgery.

Undaunted by the confusion and apparently excited by the move, Chrisha sat up in her sterile plastic tent as she was carefully wheeled in and out of hallways and elevators to her new room. The new room has a larger anteroom than the old one, which allows relatives to move around more easily, said Chrisha's mother, Christine Froio.

Chrisha's grandmother Bea Cudmore followed the procession to the new building's sixth floor, snapping pictures for a scrapbook she said she was making for Chrisha. She referred to the room Chrisha was leaving as the "miracle room," saying that for the children who stay there, the room is their "last chance."

Calling the doctors and nurses at the hospital "terrific," Cudmore said, "If I had a million dollars, I would give it to Children's Hospital for what they have done for that baby."

Chrisha entered Children's on August 18. Since then she has been home only three times, for a total of two weeks. Chrisha has limited contact with the outside world, and everything she touches must be sterilized. Nonetheless, Christine Froio said her daughter is full of questions, and "she loves to watch Sesame Street. She loves all the nurses and knows all their names."

Transplant patients are allowed virtually no skin contact with their relatives, and Chrisha's mother and grandmother said they can only touch her with their scrubbed hands. Christine Froio said that not being able to kiss Chrisha is "the worst feeling in the world." As a partial solution, Cudmore said she puts a facecloth on Chrisha's head in order to kiss her.

As she watched the tented crib carrying her grandaughter move slowly down the hall, Cudmore said, "This is when I can cry."

Laura McLaughlin

Another patient who moved on Tuesday had only been in the hospital for a day when the journey took place. But in the morning before her unit moved, thirteen-year old Laura McLaughlin, from Manchester, N.H., had an operation to remove a tube from her chest.

Laura, who was diagnosed as having leukemia in 1983, had been in remission for several years. But she relapsed in January and had to re-enter the hospital. "I didn't think [the cancer] would come back," she said.

An "old-timer" in the old building, Laura said she recognized some of the nurses. She added that she was waiting for Pam, her favorite nurse, to come on duty, so she could give her a friendship bracelet she had made.

Laura is currently at Children's to receive a high dosage of medication. She will return to Boston every three weeks for additional treatments, which last three days on the average, Laura said. Laura said her mother and father take turns staying overnight in the hospital. The other parent sleeps at a nearby Ronald McDonald House for families of children with cancer.

While she is in the hospital, Laura said she watches television and movies on the VCR and plays video games. "I love the duck hunting game. You know the one where you have a gun and you shoot the ducks on the screen," she said. "If you miss, they come up and laugh at you."