Happy St. Patty's day to you all!

Thanks for your very informative and helpful post, Pragmatica! I'm grateful for your tip about dandelion and will discuss it with my Oncologist this week. Talk about synchronicity, today is my last day of Chemo before my next PET scan (this Wed) and I will confer with him on the results on this coming Friday! I expect that the tumors in my liver will be gone and that I'll be free of detectable tumors for a while. My Oncologist believes that I will probably be free for more than the 90 days last go round gave me.

Also, I am going to follow your advice regardless. I always listen carefully to any recommendation from my medical providers (and usually follow them. But I have found them over-careful at times and sometimes refuse.) When I was first diagnosed and my treatment protocol determined, both my Med Oncologist and my Radiation Oncologist ordered things that I had to refuse.

My Med Oncologist wanted to hospitalize me for the first 5 days of treatment with Cisplatin (a truly difficult chemo) and I had to refuse that because I was sole caregiver to my 89 year-old Maiden Aunt (who lived with me.) After the treatment started, I could see that it would have been a good idea, but it just was not to be due to the actual circumstances.

At the same time, the Radiation Oncologist wanted to implant a PEG (feeding tube) directly into my stomach through the abdomen because they were going to "Light up my throat" with 8 weeks, M-F getting 15 "fields" (directions the beam would be projected) of radiation, and my throat massively burned. I refused that also on the basis that I know that I heal and endure more than the average bear; and I could always have the PEG installed if it actually became necessary. It did not, and despite the fact that I now have a ring of scar tissue (to which my thickened saliva likes to adhere and drive me nuts) around the Adam's Apple area, I never even got sore and never had any difficulty swallowing. I did lose 38 lbs of (mostly) hard-earned muscle in 90 days because I could not keep more that one bottle of Ensure+ (350 cal) down because my level of nausea was stratospheric! I have greater than average empathy for pregnant women now, as I had to drive 24 miles each way every day I got radiation; and I had to constantly look for a safe place to pull over and call for my buddy, Ralph. Fortunately, it never came to that either, but it was close every day, going and coming.

The truth is that, other than the Cisplatin, none of the other treatments have been any more onerous than "mildly inconvenient."

*oneironaut*, thanks for the sympathetic remarks. I hope you never have to be tested either. In retrospect, such tests are not for everyone because the price simply for taking it is so high, the the outcomes are always so uncertain. Living through one is not fun, but for the fortunate, and I'm one fortunate lad, for sure; the experience is the reward and it is precious, indeed. Still, it's kinda hard to see that when the test is going on.

WRT your caution on the fortified elixirs, I'm unsure as to your meaning. I am definitely looking for the full ego-death experience, as practice for the main event.

I'm currently reading ("Studying" may be more accurate) a book called "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying." The central thesis of this is that it's foolish to NOT prepare your mind for the Bardo Todrul (also written Bardo Thodol,) the transition from Life to Death and rebirth. Tibetans have been doing this for at least a thousand years or more, and the book, by Sogyal Rimpoche provides not only a detailed explanation of what's involved but also how to train in anticipation of the event.

He makes a particularly apt comparison between "Lucid dreaming" and the Bardo state, and points out how difficult it is to maintain awareness of the transition between the waking and lucid dreaming states; comparing it to the difficulty to be expected when the actual Bardo processes kick-in. That really resonated with me, and sold me.

I have been trying to practice Vipasanna, especially following Tich Nhat Hanh's writings on the subject, and my difficulties with this reinforce what Sogyal Rimpoche is saying. (TNH also concurs with SR on the matter, so another validation for me.)

Anyway, thanks for letting me run my mouth for a while,

Bart

Bart -

Crossing fingers for a good scan my friend, certainly hope the results are favorable! They will be and I look forward to a all clear report please do keep us updated.

What I was referring to with the salvia divinorum tincture and extracts was the different forms and concentrations it is available in.

Here's the rundown, you can get the natural leaves both fresh and dried, these can either be smoked, chewed or made into a tea. (Quidding and tea are the traditional methods by the Mazatecs and shaman of south america)

Then there is enhanced or what is more commonly referred to as saliva extract, this is where the leaves are infused with a concentrated from of saliva, these extracts are offered in 5x,10x,20x and so on, obviously the higher the X the stronger it is. For someone new to Salvia usually 5x is more than a good place to start. Extracts are pretty much an american/western creation, you don't find this in traditional shamanic/ceremonial use, and from what I understand smoking it is pretty much sacrilege.

It is also offered in a tincture (my personal favorite) which is Salvia suspended in alcohol, this is administered sublingually.

Quidding and tinctures are generally more manageable and easier to navigate the experience. Extracts come on so fast and hard that it's difficult to stay grounded (depends of course how much you smoke of course) but these are general terms.

If Salvia is of interest to you, read up on it. There is a section on this forum and Erowid.com has a decent amount of info as well. But if I had to choose between taking either lady salvia or miss dmt on the island, miss dmt wins out no question

So that's Salvia in a nutshell. You mentioned the Bardo and Lucid Dreaming, what experience do you have with lucid dreaming... as you maybe could tell by my handle I'm quite into that and have been practicing it for nearly 10 years, I'd be glad to give you as much info on that as you care to absorb if you haven't mastered LD already you are more than welcome to PM me anytime Bart aka RedCat

Ha... just reread your post and realized you weren't asking about what the "extract/tincture" or elixir as you called it was, but rather as to why I threw out caution for the ego death experience. Correct?

I didn't mean to sound like I was warning against an ego death experience or anything, it's just that with salvia extracts it is easy to take in too much and have a horrible experience, it can really be a rout ride if you go too deep to quick IMO. It is also recommended to have a sitter present with salvia as some people have a tendency to get up and move around while completely oblivious to the fact. So there's that too... not one to do alone for the first time.

But, my friend, in your circumstances and with the challenge you have before you... pack a bowl and see what it's all about it's a doozie

You are correct. I'm very dyslexic, and I've noticed that both the dyslexia and the chemo (which impairs short-term memory big-time, BTW) have been making it very hard to dip into my vocabulary memory and retrieve the precise word I'm searching for. There are worse problems a person could have to deal with...

Don't worry about it my Friend, I'm just grateful for the detailed knowledge that you've shared. Thank you, I've been very curious about tinctures and you're put them in some perspective for me. Very helpful!

And I appreciate the "sitter" caveat; that's one I've been aware of and been considering who to use, for almost 4 decades. Soon, my friend, soon.

[edit to clarify, "Soon" refers to obtaining a sitter.]