I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past or shared the link for Phantom's treatment.  I'm not trying to be dramatic with this or sound cliché but this really is the moment of truth.  All the past appointments & experimenting with various treatments and meds has come down to this.  It is the only thing that can help Phantom now and I need alot of help to save her.  As many of you know, Phantom was being treated by an internal medicine doctor for her cryptococcosis since being diagnosed in late April.  The referring doctor (AVIM in Tustin – avoid them at all cost) had said that the best course of action would be surgery to remove the bad eye and as much of the mass as possible and then follow up with at home medications.  The IM doctor disagreed and pushed for months of expensive twice weekly treatments at the clinic and a cornucopia of various at home medications.  The mass just continued to grow, and I was repeatedly shot down every time I mentioned surgery.  I should have read the reviews for AVIM before I started sending poor Phantom to them.  Other people have had major issues with expensive & unnecessary treatments and huge amounts of testing resulting in $5,000+ costs. The clinic doesn’t offer surgery, so it explains why they always poo-poo’ed the idea.  To make a long story short – Phantom now has a new (knowledgeable & not in it for $$) Internal Medicine Vet, Dr Briggs at VMSG-OC.  She has successfully treated cryptococcosis in the past and the 1st thing she said during our first visit was that when it affects the eye, the old vet should have done a debulking (surgery to remove as much of the mass as possible) right from the beginning and then use the IV treatment & at home meds to shrink what's left.  AND that when the biopsy was done on the piece of tissue they removed when originally diagnosing Phantom, that they should have done a separate test. There is 1 specialized lab that can determine the specific strain of cryptococcosis & from that, the medication most successful in treating the specific strain.  Dr. Briggs referred us to Blue Pearl Animal Hospital in Irvine for the surgery as her practice no longer has on-site surgeons.  Phantom has her surgical consult on the 14th at Blue Pearl with Dr Donner. Her surgeon specializes in treating tumors and soft tissue growths.  The clinic is not sure if Dr Donner will want a more recent scan done but the surgery date will then be scheduled.  Because they don't know exactly what the mass will look like once in surgery & with the eye removed (you can feel the jelly like consistency of the mass above her eye/on her forehead), they can't give me a set cost for the enucleation (eye removal) and debulking surgery plus aftercare & meds but $4,500 to $10k is the range I'm looking at.  Dr. Briggs told me that because the mass is so dense, the meds the other vet was giving couldn't penetrate to do any good and that's why the surgery should have been done months ago.  Once the surgery is done, a portion of the mass will be sent to the specialized lab (which is also extremely expensive i.e. $1,500ish) that will determine the specific strain of cryptococcosis that Phantom has.  Based on that the vet will know which med to prescribe for at home care.    With COVID I know that the timing of this is terrible but Phantom and I desperately need your help.  I have maxed out the CareCredit account as well as Scratch Pay and have no remaining savings to speak of. Because cryptococcosis is a fungal infection, the heat & humidity we are having right now is only helping the mass to grow. I don’t want to beg but I don’t know of any other way to stress the literal life and death consequences of being able to pay for this surgery.  I’ve tried selling collectibles, jewelry and other items that would normally be good sellers on eBay but there is zero interest.  I’m working overtime as much as I can get approved & asking everyone I know for help.  Please, please donate as much as you can.  Share the link with all the pet parents, animal lovers, rescue centers and online animal groups in your life.Phantom MUST have this surgery to survive.  Please help me save her life & rid her little body of this destructive disease.  Send out all the positive vibes as you can for her in the next 2 weeks.  Fingers & paws crossed.  Thank you so much!