Well I saw the surgeon today and the good news is that the white patches were that lichen condition. There is not so good, but compared to the possibility that it could have been cancer anything looks good at the moment. He said that it is not curable and comes and goes over a life-time, but the symptoms can be treated with pain relief type medication. He said it is an auto-immune system disorder and I already have a cluster of auto-immune disorder related conditions so that was no surprise. I had assumed that the pain in my mouth that I experience periodically was from outbreaks of ulcers but apparently it is the lichen thing. That was what prompted me to seek attention in the first place, it got infected. So, thank you so much for your support and concern. Everyone helped me so much through a really stressful time. I have so much admiration for not only the courage and determination that everyone here has shown through their posts, but also the ability to still have time to show compassion and concern for people like me who are only at the stage of worrying that they might have this disease. May God bless you all and keep you safe. I will drop in from time to time to check out how people are going as I have grown to really care about you folk. Meanwhile back to my life, I can get on with my studies to re-train through uni as a social worker. I hope that one day I can give back to the world the help that people like yourselves have given to me. thank you so much