IMO there would be something seriously wrong if a patient with oral cancer did not get depressed. It's another rite of passage to survivor. I let myself get depressed at least once a day, but not for long. In my mind, I paraphrase popular songs to reflect my changing feelings. These have been on the airwaves recently.

Sometimes it's Gavin DeGraw's song Not Over You
[quote]� If you ask me how I�m doing; I would say I�m doing just fine,
I would lie and say the cancer's not on my mind �. [/quote]

Other times it's Kelley Clarkson's: Stronger :
[quote]�What doesn't kill you makes you stronger ;Stand a little taller
What doesn't kill you makes you fighter
Footsteps even lighter Cancer doesn't mean I'm over �
[/quote]
Lots of time it's wistful Katie Perry:
[quote]In another life, I would be made whole. In another life the cancer would not have stayed
[/quote]
I don't even have to change a word in Adele's Someone Like You
[quote]�You know how the time flies
Only yesterday was the time of our lives
We were born and raised in a summer haze
Bound by the surprise of our glory days ....
Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste? �[/quote]

I've posted before about the "tyranny of positivism". Ironically, beating yourself up for mourning what the cancer did or took away can lead to depression. But I also think it important to think happy, life affirming thoughts each and every day and keep a gratitude journal to offset the bad days.
Charm