Deb,
None of us wants to get cancer, but at least with cancer you either live or die - either way it usually doesn't last very long. In that sense (and without diminishing the significance of cancer) candida is worse. Its the lingering disease which no one knows anything about, which won't give you any outward signs of being ill (so no sympathy/empathy) and yet can leaving you feeling absolutely terrible on the inside.
I keep on hearing good things about live blood microscopy. This is fascinating to me - I wonder how much of a problem candida causes in the blood, and how much it is limited to just the mucous membranes. According to what you are saying it can get rampant in the blood too.