Is there anything I can do myself to get my ipod touch 4th gen to charge again?

I've had this 4th gen ipod touch for at least a year, maybe 2 years tops, now. It's practically my life line because it almost never leaves my hands/person. I use this every single day, especially to keep in contact with a close friend. My ipod was working and charging fine yesterday. Last night I had taken a shower and it did get wet when I had touched it with my hands still wet. First mistake on my part. I wiped it off with a towel and connected it to my laptop after to synch it. It synched at first but then my computer couldn't find the ipod though it was connected and I didn't think much of it because my computer sometimes doesn't find thigns right away. After, I went to put it to charge before bed and unplugged it after a few minutes. At the time, it was charging somewhat. I don't remember if I had a problem keeping it charging or not. I think it was fine. This morning I went to charge my battery before I head out and it did not charge. At first I thought it was my USB cable because this had happened to me once before and to fix the problem then, I just bought a new USB cable. I tried different ones I had in my house besides my usual one but it didn't charge with any of them. In fact, the ipod only recognized it was connected for maybe a few flickering secs before it would disconnect though it was plugged it. I couldn't get it to keep connection recognition long enough to possibly back up my ipod (because it has not been backed up since 3 days ago). As I said, my ipod is practically my life line so when the battery was depleting after some use and I wasn't getting it to charge no matter what I did, I paid a visit to the Apple store. They had no open reservations for today so I have to wait until tomorrow but they glanced at it real quick after I explained it won't charge or synch and said it looks like possible liquid corrosion. Is there anyway I can attempt to get it to charge again without having to go back to the Apple store? I'd rather not have to go back unless it's my last option. Also, if worse comes to worse and I need to have Apple take care of it for me (with the understanding liquid damage is not in the warranty) what will happen exactly? Will my data be salvaged in anyway or would I have some losses?