If she gets good care when she returns to Iraq, she should live a long and full life.

Obviously, good works happen in Iraq every day. And good works happen with the soldiers. We hear all of the negative. It's about time we had the opportunity to hear some of the good.

Quality of life is very important, but if we don't get rid of this defect, it will eventually take her life as well.

The longer we go without putting a shunt in, the less likely she'll need one. We're cautiously optimistic.

We need to get the back closed. The concern here is meningitis. If the baby gets an infection on the back, that infection can spread to the coverings all over the brain and the baby may die, so time is of the essence.

The back actually looks very, very good. She's doing everything that a well-loved 4-month-old baby should be doing. You pick her up and hold her and the smile comes out.