Many of the lessons I learned are personal to me and I hope become personal to the readers as well. It is my aim for this book to assist the reader to identify those lessons taught to them from those dying acquaintances and using those teaching to further assist others they meet in their journey through the shadows of death to their new beginnings.
There are many lessons I am still learning from those dying patients who have become my instructors in living. I am indebted to these wonderful dying persons-patients who are no longer in this world for allowing me to share their journey to their new beginning, at the end of their Valley of the Shadow of Death.
The very first lesson I learned as a hospice chaplain was that I was the student and my patients and caregivers were the instructors. They have taught me the importance of facing my own dark shadows of death . I have learned from those shadows the importance of culture values. I learned the importance of my life's work.
When I listened to their stories of personal relationships, I learned the importance of my own relationships within this dying world. My relationships with the dying also taught me the importance of spiritual and religious values. I also was taught the importance of accepting the responsibility of being a caregiver to both the dying and the living. It is because of these lessons in my life that I am indebted to those patients, caregivers, as well as other family members and friends that have allowed me to walk with them in their Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Some of the lessons I have learned will be obvious to most readers, and some of the lessons I attempted to point out. I divided the book into six learning division or chapters. The reader will readily see that many of the lessons overlap from chapter to chapter. For instance, Chapter VI, on caregivers, emphasizes the difficulty some caregivers have with their patients and the problem I as their counselor/ chaplain was having in trying to help the caregiver while at the same time trying to meet the patients needs. They were at times when such needs were at odds with each other.
One of the greatest lessons I learned from working with both patient and caregiver is primary throughout the other five chapters. That is, anyone who desires to walk with the dying into the shadows of death, into the dark valley of the dying, will need to be a person who has unconditional love and respect for those who allow them into their lives.
I learned that acceptance of one’s death may arrive by the way of anger and confusion from the family members. I learned the importance of communication among the patients family. I learned that culture and faith are important in ones journey through life. I learned that there are more lessons that I need to learn as I walk with those who are facing death.
Chaplain Donald E. Fowler Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Retired spent ten years of his military experience as a military hospital chaplain.
Upon retirement from the military Don worked in his almamater, William Carey College in Gulfport, Mississippi as a professor and administrator.
Don served as a counselor for the Greater New Orleans Family Counseling Center.
Don served as a hospice and hospital chaplain for Slidell Memorial Hospital in Sildell, Louisiana.
Don assisted in the establishment of the Georgia Mountain Hospice located in Jasper Georgia (the first mountain town of Georgia mountains) serving as the head of pastoral care for 4 years.
Don has recently been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) and is putting to test the lessons he learned from the shadows that he has written about in his book.
