Oral Thrush or something else?

Hi, I've  posted here before, little bit of background...I am a 28 yr. old female. Huge fear of cancer saw my grandmother die of Ovarian cancer.  Suffer from anxiety/panic attacks, OCD & I overreact. I'm currently suffering from extreme dry mouth & burning sensation on tip & 1/2 on top of tongue as well as the roof of my mouth.  I don't wake up w/the burning sensation but it progressively get worse through out the day (eating/drinking relieves it).  Taking Nasonex, Zrytec (Pollen  extremely high lately), Xanax (anixety real high). To make a story short, I started developing a red sore throat Sunday (gradually getting better). I decided to look w/ a flash light this morning & I noticed that where my soft palate and uvula hangs down was starting to get red areas and it looked like it had some white specks on it so I got a Q-tip out and started wiping it off.  White spots came off so then I used some Listerine before going back to bed and it wasn't as red.  So when I got up at 7 am I looked and it still wasn't as red.  But as the morning went on I noticed some more red areas (like up towards hard palate area) with white spots that I could wipe off and that really made it red (aggreviation?)plus my mouth is dry & burning feeling. It's like red spots here & there w/ some white stuff that can be wiped off but no ulcerations.  I've had thrush before a few yrs. ago on hard palate.  My questions:
1. Can you get oral thrush on soft palate & uvula?
2. Does this sound like thrush?
3. Can you get Strep throat if you've had tonsils out?
4. Should I be concerned(cancer)?
Thank you

[Jerome Bogin, D.D.S.]

To answer your questions the best I can without seeing you--You can get thrush in the area of the soft plate. It doesn't  sound like thrush, but I can't be sure without seeing it. You most certainly get Strep without your tonsils. I really don't think this is cancer but again please see an oral surgeon to confirm any diagnosis. The dry mouth you are experiencing can be troublesome to the oral tissues and you can have an increased incidence of tooth decay and inflammation of the gum tissue. This should definitely be looked into.