I
started to leave a comment as a response to a friend who was writing
about depression and the following paragraph was what I said before I
realized that I was writing a post, having more to say, so here I am
continuing what I wanted to say.

I have worked very hard most of
my life to remain positive whether I have been arrested for being gay or
being discharged dishonorably after serving my country and killing kids
(probably my age at that time!) in the Korean War, being homeless,
losing the love of my life, going bankrupt twice, going through
congestive heart failure, etc., etc,--just living life. I do not know
about depression except for the month I experienced it.

In July
2008 I went under severe depression not realizing this can happen after
an aorta valve replacement. The surgeon didn’t give me any heads up and I
was lost. I called my primary doctor in tears telling him I needed held
and he got me to a psychiatrist. It took talking to him, medicine,
doing all the things I had learned40 years ago to be positive no matter
what. I spent 18 days working at getting those feelings back again. I
was blogging at that time and most were positive blogs and
idiots--that’s what they were--not knowing what I was going through made
snide remarks like “He couldn’t really be that positive”--“no one feels
that good all the time”--and so on. I worked hard to get out of that
depression 24/7 like I worked, and work, to stay positive 24/7

To
my friend:  I won’t say I know what you are going through and I won’t
say I understand people who chronically have depression but I do know
you have to fight it 24/7. You have dealt with it long enough now to
know what you have to do-- please do it--need help? Go for it! Need the
meds? Take them! Need to be alone? Then be alone. Can a person going
through depression do things to get out of it? I don’t know but I do
know that people suffering from/with depression have to talk about it,
have to educate others about what it involves and what it does to them.