Happy March Eve!!!!!!!!

It's mom's favorite holiday.  This year marks the 5th year of celebrating it!  You see, this is how it all started, so I'm told.  5 years ago, mom and her friends all did different things for the real New Years and they weren't able to spend it together.  So momma and Aunt Miss Katie decided they would welcome in the first month that landed on a weekend.  It happened to be a leap year also, so it was February 29th that was on a Friday.  There they celebrated the first March Eve in 2008.  I wasn't around then, but I hear it was a pretty rocking time.  Mom threw another party in 2009 and then the last party was in 2010 at my house.  But things didn't go as planned and we haven't had a party since.  BUT, hasn't stopped mom and Aunt Miss Katie from celebrating!  Although, a bad snow storm might ruin their plans tonight... No worries, I'll help mom celebrate!  Oh, and my girls are over visiting for the week... we'll have a great time!

Did you remember the cheeto's, mom?

I still can't do much any playing with my girls, but they understand.  Well, mostly.  Bethany understands for about a minute, then completely forgets.  She has a short term memory problem, I think, hehe.  I do love my girls though.

Have you forgotten about me?

Sorry I didn't follow up from my post on Wednesday.  Mom talked to Dr. Mike and we're going to re-do my medicines and keep me on the steroid for a little longer.

I mean... a little of the steroids was fine... but, really.  What does she want me to become?

 This?!

Because, honestly, I feel more like...

This...

I can't exercise, play ball, jump around like a crazy dog... I have to be super quiet and super unactive.  I can feel my manly structure falling apart.

But, momma says I have to stay calm and let the medicines do their work otherwise, we'll be talking surgery in a few weeks.  So, I'm trying my best because mom says if I need surgery it'll be painful and I'll really have to be calm for a really long time.  There's also a vet dude that volunteers with the rescue, so mom chatted him up this past weekend about me.  He agreed that maybe we didn't keep me on the steroid long enough and that redoing it was a good idea.  He also said about 5% of dogs need surgery for something like this.  I think mom felt better hearing the same thing from another doctor... ya know, she's all sorts of worried about me.  I told her there's nothing to be worried about!  I'm THE Corbin.  Which means, I'll get through anything.  Right?  Right.

I don't have a title...

So, a lot of you have been asking how I'm doing.  Truth is, not as well as we had hoped. I finished up my steroid this past Sunday and the plan was to start weaning the pain meds starting today... but, you see, I was climbing up on the couch last night and it was very painful... and this happened 3 times last night.  The third time, mom and dad tried to stop me, but I wanted to be on the couch, pain or not!

So, mom has a call in for Dr. Mike.  We'll have to adjust our plan and mom said it might be time to visit the neurologist.  I hate updating without really knowing what's going on, but I know a lot of you have been asking and I don't want to leave you in the dark. 

I got some great cards in the mail too from my dear friends Remington and Frankie & Ernie!  It was so uplifting.  Thank you so much for thinking of me!  I meant to take a picture, but I forgot.

And, speaking of uplifting... did you hear I WON Readers Choice for the Cracker Dog over at the Mango Minster?!?!?!?!  Yea, dude... and that's not all.  I also WON the title of most crazy Cracker Dog!  Ok, well I Co-Won with Taffy.  But that's totally cool with me!  Thanks to everyone who voted.  I'm very honored, but sad at the same time because lately I haven't been living up to my Cracker ways... soon, I hope!

Anyway, it's time for my afternoon cream cheese.  Hopefully I'll have something to update everyone on tomorrow.

Former Foster Sister Friday!

So, last Friday I told you that my Lexie Lou was going to meet a family, right?  Well, I've been so busy this week, I forgot to tell you!  Miss. Lexie went to her new furever home last Friday and she's so very happy there!  Lexie was a hard one for mom and dad to let go of because she was sooooo wonderful, but after everything that I've been going through, mom realized it's really not an option to have two doggies at this point - which is fine with me!  I like my rotating ladies.

This is Lexie with her new furever sister Sophie!  They love to play together.

And this is Lexie with her new momma and her 2 new fursisters.

Good luck Lex!  We miss you already, but we know you're in great hands with your new home! 

And PS. Don't forget to vote for Cracker Corbin over at the MangoMister!!!

Vote for Corbin!

Go over to the Mango Minster and Vote for your favorite Cracker Dog!!! CORBIN!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Pillars of Strength - A Special Day for K

Well, Valentine's Day has arrived and I'd like to dedicate my day to K.  You see, although I haven't been feeling well lately, K has been fighting the nasty cancer battle.  K is a strong, beautiful, spunky and extremely photogenic gal.  Mom and I love following KB's blog with her stories about K, hiking, the beautiful scenery and the awesome wildlife in their area.  We admire KB and K's strength to fight this battle and we're grateful for every blog they post. 
KB is an inspiration for dog owners everywhere.

So, this day is for you K.  I love you.  I'm praying for you.  I know you'll fight this battle and I pray you'll win.  The golden glow of your face will forever grace the blogville world. 

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

PS.  I'm starting to sober up, mom says I'm in a 15 day program.

Friday Snooze Day!

I think I just might get to wake up this weekend!  We'll see what Mr. Dr. Mike has to say this afternoon!

I'm sleepin' on top of my dad in this one... hehe, I made him all sleepy too.

Must rub off.

PS.

Lexie is meeting a family tonight, wish her luck!

See, I make her sleepy too!

Is it time to wake up yet?

Wordless Slumber

......Sweet dreams......

PS. we stole pictures from some of our bloggin' friends -hope you forgive us!
Puddles, Maggie Mae, Lucy Lou, Mayzie, Havi, Ruby & Bessie-Belle and Miss. M

Snoozin'

I think mom is spiking my cream cheese....

Mr. Dr. Mike said I'm too active, so I get more cream cheese and I feel even drunker.  Looks like the rest of my posts this week will be coming from laladreamland.  I'm not responsible for the content of the next few posts... who knows how drunk I'll be.

ZzzzzZzzzzZzzzzzZzzzzzzz

Good thing I don't snore.

Giants won! A post from Corbin

Hey friends, Corbin here.  Did you hear... my New York Football GIANTS won the SUPERBOWL!  I was actually awake for it.  Momma and Heather came home from Grandpa Jacks at half time because I needed my medications and she didn't want me to have to watch the game alone.  Momma tried not to scream and yell at the tv much because I'm not supposed to go crazy and jump around (I'm actually supposed to be in my crate as much as possible... BORING), which is what I do when something goes wrong with my football team.  So, I was quite unaware of how close the game was!  Anyway, I'm super glad my team won.

And, I'm sure you didn't check out my blog post just to hear me ramble about the Giants.  You want an update on how I'm doing?  Well, I've been acting pretty drunk lately, but I swear to you... I do not remember drinking this much (typing pretty well for a drunk dog, huh?!).  So, I'm not really sure what's going on yet... but I get a lot of cream cheese that mom says is my medications.  Momma will be talking to Mr. Dr. Mike this afternoon to discuss what's going on and where we go from here.  All I know is someone hid my ball and I'm super unhappy about it.

Thank you so much for everyones love, support, prayers, concern, thoughts, emails, kind words and sharing... it's meant so much to me and my momma and I just know the power of the paw is what helped Mr. Dr. Mike figure out what's wrong with me.  I sure hope this is the end of all the pain I've been in... but I sure have loved all the extra attention ;-)

Superbowl Sunday Slumber

Day #7

Not much to update on. We started Corbin on the tranquilizers this morning... he's walking around like a drunk sailor. So we're watching his every move and have a hiking harness on him to help him get up and down the deck ramp. He does seem a bit restless but has finally settled down on my legs for a snooze. Thankfully he's crate trained and likes his crate, so he'll be safe when we're not home or can't be watching him. Going to be a long couple of days, but lets hope this does the trick.

Day #6: News

Ok, Corbin's mom here again today with our vet visit results. Sorry I waited so long to update, I wanted to make sure we received the results of his blood work. We re-tested him for pancreatitis, which came back negative. So now we can start treating him for the pain, which we think is coming from a pinched nerve in his back. We'll start treatment with Prednisone on Sunday morning, we need to have the metacam that he's been on for anti inflammatory out of his system for at least 48 hours.

Now, as most of you know, Corbin is a very active guy, even in the pain he's in, its hard for us to keep him from jumping on the couch when he hears a noise outside. So, in order for this to work the quickest, we'll need to tranquillize him during his treatment. If we keep him quiet, we can hopefully have this fixed in a week, but if he keeps pinching that nerve it'll set us back. It'll be hard to see him doped up every day, but we want him pain free as quickly as possible. We also have a ramp set up to help him up and down our deck stairs to avoid him repinching that nerve.

If he doesn't seem to respond to the prednisone treatment, we'll need to see a neurologist and have an MRI done. Hopefully this works and we can avoid that. But we'll do whatever we need to do our big guy!

I can't thank everyone enough for your love, concern, support and suggestions... hopefully we're at the bottom of his issue and he'll be writing about his crazy antics soon!

Corbin's momma, Jenn

Day #5

Corbin's momma here again. No real changes today. He did sleep a little better last night, so I'm hoping the pain meds are kicking in. He's still not drinking on his own but we've been doing an okay job tricking him into drinking. Hopefully we'll find some answers tonight, our appt is at 7pm.

On another note, like Corbin's current situation isn't stressful enough, I fell this morning and have a bad ligament strain in my ankle. So I'm on crutches for the next 6+ days. The fun just never stops!

Thanks for everyone's support. It's been so helpful to read all the comments and emails. I've written up some notes and suggestions to bring with us tonight.

Keep those good vibes coming for my big fella!!!

Corbin's momma, Jenn

Day #4

Corbin's momma here again.  I really hate to keep updating with crappy news and I don't want to not update and keep everyone in the dark... but Corbin is no better.  He's still not drinking well - we've tried chicken broth, beef broth and chicken and beef baby food mixed in.  The broth worked well Sunday, but then he was sick of that.  And the baby food worked great last night, so I was pretty excited, but he turned his nose up at it this morning, no matter how I doctored it up.  He has been eating fine and I fill his food bowl with water, which he'll drink to get to the food, but it just doesn't seem to be enough water.  We'll probably have to go in again tonight for more fluids if he doesn't start drinking.  I've thought about doing the fluids at home, but I keep hoping that every trip will be our last... plus, I'm not sure how well he'd sit still for it at home.  And, we still have Lexie, who has been an angel with all the attention Corbin has been getting.

He was in pain all night... moaning, groaning and yelping when he'd move.  I called my vet this morning at his home, not the vet we have been seeing, but our friend that owns the vet hospital.  I told him I was very concerned that this was possibly something else and that Corbin's pain seems to be getting worse.  He went into the vets office and took a look at Corbin's file.  He thinks it might be in his back - although the pancreatitis did come back positive, he's not vomiting or showing any other signs.  He upped his pain meds and Adam is on his way to get an anti inflammatory to start him on.  We have an appointment with Dr. Mike tomorrow at 7.  He wanted him on the anti inflammatory and pain meds before we went in for an appointment.

I've been up all night with him since Saturday... I'm worried sick about my poor boy.  It's so hard to see him in pain like this.  Hopefully, we can get him comfortable and figure out what is going on.

There is still the possibility that it's the pancreatitis... but since his pain is when he stretches his abdomen... that's typically something they do to relieve the pressure on the pancreas, so it shouldn't be causing pain :-(

I'll be back with another update tomorrow... hard to find the words for Corbin when he's hurting...