Scarlet's medical diagnosis

[TxScarlet15]

Some of you may remember my postings asking for opinions on Scarlet as to what's wrong with her, I never have posted much on here so I won't blame you if you don't. Here's the old thread if you want to look at it http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/gener...nky-spine.html. A month ago I had finally found a reptile vet two hours from me who seems to have an idea as to what's wrong with her. He suspects she has osteitis deformans brought on by a bacterial infection, viral infection, or possibly cancer. He prescribed her an antibiotic to try and stop it if it is a bacterial infection causing it. He showed me her x-rays and pointed out the fact that she has a lot of dark splotchyness to her bones, moth-eaten as he put it, as well as several calcified areas. On yesterday's visit he recommended we add a second stronger antibiotic to help the first. He also showed me some pictures from a textbook of a boa constrictor that was diagnosed with deformans after autopsy, and I have to be honest it was tough seeing the deformed and destroyed bones. The vet and I did discuss that if she doesn't respond to antibiotics and continues to worsen then I may have to start thinking about her quality of life and euthanasia. I can tell in just the two years since I made that thread that her bones have gotten a lot worse. It makes me wonder how do you know when a snake is in pain? How do you know when they have had enough and would rather give up? There doesn't seem to be much known about these types of illnesses and I hope that in a few years we have more knowledge about it. Anyway I just wanted to give an update about her and maybe get some advice from others who have been in similar situations. I'll try to get some up to date pictures of Scarlet later today.