HELP! how can I get my outbox emails back- they vanished without sending!!!

Question

I just came off 8 hour transatlatic flight the entireity of which I spent dealing dealing with email and deflagging as I hit send.
When we touched down and I connected to wifi expecting to see the 27 messages in my outbox send....  But they didn't.  They just sat there.  New mail didn't come in either.   Mail ended up crashing and I had to do restart... after which there were no messages in outbox!!!!
Most of the emails were associated with my work Gmail account however I also have a personal gmail.  My personal Gmail is picking up email however my work one is not....
I've tried sending a coupel test emails but they now sit in my outbox without sending.  Unfortunately they sit alone in my outbox... can see no sign of the others... and they aren't in my drafts.  I do have a couple emails I had written but not sent sitting in drafts.
I'm freaking out not just because I lost 8 hours work but also because I have no way of figuring out what emails I responded to now thay are unflagged.  I get ~500+ emails a day so this.
Any here GREATLY appreciated.

Answer 1

Sorry that I don't have a definite answer.  I assume you are using mobile.charter.net as per http://www.myaccount.charter.com/customers/support.aspx?supportarticleid=3230 and the built-in email app on the Galaxy?
The thing is that desktop e-mail programs allow you to specify exactly what happens when you "delete" a message on an IMAP folder:
http://support.google.com/mail/answer/78755http://kb.mozillazine.org/deleting%20messages%20in%20IMAP%20accounts
I don't see where to configure these options on the phone.  Also, some e-mail programs have an command to "expunge" messages on the server.  What happens if you login to your IMAP account from a desktop computer and "compact" the folders?