Brave as a Bear

On March 12th, Colton had surgery at UC Davis Veterinary Medical Hospital to remove an invasive, malignant adrenal gland tumor. Thanks to the highly-skilled surgical team at UC Davis and Colton being "Brave as a Bear", he made it through an extremely difficult surgery and started down the road to recovery. During the initial period following the surgery, it looked as if everything was moving in the right direction. 

Sadly, on day 2, Colton began to experience complications that included a severe case of pancreatitis and an acute kidney injury. While it wasn't the news we wanted to hear, his doctors were optimistic that with the right supportive care, his pancreatitis would gradually clear up and his kidney function would slowly resume.

Based on this development, it became necessary for Colton to remain in intensive care so his doctors could continue to monitor him and provide the ongoing medical treatment he needed.

Once again, we received some positive news. Colton's kidney values had stabilized and started to come down a little bit. He perked up, started to look brighter, and at one point, even tried to walk out of his recovery area.

Unfortunately, just when it looked like he was about to turn the corner, he encountered another obstacle in the form of an infection. While his doctors immediately diagnosed it and took the appropriate action, the infection led to a setback with both his kidneys and his pancreatitis.

We met with his doctors this afternoon and were informed that Colton would now need a longer period of hospitalization, and dialyses to give his body the time it needs to recover from what he's been through.

His medical team still believes that with the right supportive care, Colton can make a full recovery, it's just going to take time.  

Colton Bear has never been one to follow the conventional path, as his road into our lives got off to a rocky start.  He came to us in Arizona (where we live)  from an out of state breeder and his beginning was far from ideal.  He was very under-sized and had a host of medical issues that were discovered during his first trip to the vet.  All that being said, our baby bear fought and overcame all of his puppy maladies and developed into the beautiful and strong boy that he is today.   Colton's Grammy always tells people that while genetically he may be a corgi, in truth he is actually a "superior being."  Colton Bear has never lacked confidence; and, as the saying goes, "why blend in when you are born to stand out."  Colton has spent the majority of his seven (7) years in our home bringing constant joy to not just our family, but to thousands and thousands of people through various mediums (in person and through social media).   

Our greatest hope by putting together this campaign is to help Colton be able to get the continued care and treatment that he desperately needs so that he can get back to all of his favorite things: eating ice cream, playing in the snow and on the beach, doing hallway zoomies, cuddling with his momma bear,  and spreading his incredibly contagious smile to everyone that he encounters in real life and through social media.  We are hopeful that you may consider helping us to continue in helping Colton to be #BraveAsABear in this fight.