Rosy-Boa Abscess

[Starbuck]

Hi all,
I just wanted to make a 'journal' of sorts as my rosy boa and I tackle her tail abscess, so others can know what to look for, and the approach me and my vet took.

Neki is at least 15 years old; i got her in november 2012 from one of her many previous owners, and now she has a permanent forever-home with me. Prior to her previous owner, she was housed with a heat rock (bad!!!!!) and suffered pretty serious burns to her tail (post cloaca). Luckily, it was only involving the soft tissue of the tail, and none of her internal organs. Apparently, she was taken to a vet at that time and given a clean bill of health, and the owner was told that it would just take a good deal of time to heal (as many reptiles do).
The first picture (vertical, in my hands) is how her tail looked when i first got her. There was no obvious pocket/infection/swelling that i noted when i got her. I wanted to document the progress of the scar as she shed, to get an idea of how it changed.
fast forward to 2 weeks ago, and she finally shed for me for the first time. There was no difficulty, no skin stuck to the edges of the scar, and the skin over the scar even came off in a clean, smooth section. However, I did notice a few small, thickened, crusty 'plugs' attached to the shed, and a very VERY foul odor associated with the shed. When I picked her up to handle her, I noticed that the area closest to her vent, on the border of the patch of scar tissue, had an opening that was not bleeding or seeping, however there was a thick, pale yellow pasty plug in it. I immediately suspected abscess, and gently palpated the area. There seemed to be no signs of pain, though the tail did seem to be more swollen than before; i think because she had been soaking immediately after her shed, and the abscess was now re-opened.
I called my vet and made an appointment for her, which was earlier this week. They did a needle-aspirate to test the bacteria for antibiotic susceptibility, and then an x-ray of her tail, to ensure that the abscess was not involved with any of her caudal vertebrae.
There are three treatment options at this point:
treat with antibiotics and wait and see
amputate the tail after the vent (necessary if vertebral involvement)
open and debride the site, and continue with antibiotics

We are still waiting the results of the bacteria sensitivity test, and she has a recheck next week, at which point we will decide a course of treatment. For now, she is getting meloxicam (anti inflammatory and analgesic) and Ceftazidine (antibiotic) to see if this produces any changes.
I will update with any changes, but i'm just curious if/how others have dealt with snake abscesses before? As an aspiring exotic vet, I'd really like to hear what worked/didnt work and why, for others.
-Erin