I don't think any one of us has escaped the weeks, sometimes months of depression that seem to go hand in hand with a cancer diagnoses. The invasive surgery, the long treatment regime, days and weeks of not just feeling ill, but terribly fatigued, sore, and just plain sick! After a while everything just takes its toll and slowly you might find yourself in the depths of despair or you may not even realize that you are depressed with everything else that is going on. For me it was the latter. You might find me in my hospital room after my first initial surgery either crying my eyes out for no apparent reason, or whooping it up with anyone on the floor that would listen to me. I had terrible mood swings; angry one minute about losing my tongue, and the next minute being ever so thankful I was alive, tongue or no tongue. I am certain that the trama of my situation came into play at first, but when the tears didn't quit flowing, I knew I was in trouble. When I didn't want to get up off the couch and at least TRY to walk or when I actually shut my phones off and quit receiving visitors, I knew I was in trouble. Well, actually, I had no idea I was THAT depressed until my husband began pointing things out to me and suggested I might want to talk to the Doctor about how I was feeling emotionally. I wasn't on an even keel that is for sure. And I had spent enormous amounts of time trying to be "up" for everybody. Making sure I told EVERYBODY that " yeah, I was OK" or "don't worry about me" I think I was actually trying to convince myself of that only it wasn't working, I just thought it was. A few weeks after surgery I was put on Paxil and a few weeks after that I really did begin to feel better emotionally. At least I could control the mood swings a bit. The depression didn't end there though. I've had some very difficult times on and off since my hemiglossectomy five years ago. I saw a therapist, attended support groups and remained on Paxil. And like Brooke says, it all just takes time to heal both physically and emotionally. I still have what I call my "dog days" but they are fewer and farther in between these days. And I pay attention to how I'm feeling emotionally knowing that for me, depression can be just a stones throw away. Cancer affects the whole person not just the physical person. Sometimes I think we forget that. SIncerely, Donna