“Some people are blessed with a divine insight”
From Dr. Zahi Kassas,
Dr Paul Axtell is retiring. So happy for him and Lorraine, but so sad for all of us at the Jones Memorial family.
Dr Axtell and I started at Jones almost at the same time. I beat him to Wellsville by one year. When he started at Jones, He seemed overqualified for us. What would a Johns Hopkins Graduate do in Wellsville after all? Many questioned whether he truly matriculated at Hopkins. During my residency training, I heard many horror stories of Hopkins training. The place was like a boot camp for doctors. Surgery residents had to be up and complete their morning rounds at 4 am in full black-tie attire, only to be ready for a routine 12-hour shift in the operating room!
I never saw Paul Axtell in a tie. If he did, he would have it sideways as if his mom had given him a look that morning and made him wear it! If he saw me wearing a tie, he would give me a kind look (and I would say no more).
Was he really a Hopkins grad?
He was actually top of his class as well! This is how I got the answer:
It was my 3rd year in Wellsville, and I had a patient of mine at the hospital. The kid was a diagnostic dilemma to me. I had sent her for second and third opinions, but no pediatric specialists would be able to group the collection of signs and symptoms into a single disease. In my heart, I knew it. There had to be some sickness, a syndrome, a condition that would group all my patient’s symptoms into one name.
I had failed my patient and all I was doing was treat her in the hospital when her condition worsened. I felt terrible and the nice family would spend more time consoling me as much as they would their kid!
In one of those hospital stays; I was strolling my patient on a wheelchair down the elevator to the X-ray department. As the door was closing Axtell reached his hand and forced himself into the cabin. Good morning, top of the day… Axtell remains a man of few words.
15 seconds later, the door opened, and we each went our separate ways. Axtell had finished his rounds and left towards the doctor’s parking lot, and I took a left turn strolling my patient to the X-ray department.
A few days later, at the monthly medical staff meeting, Paul Axtell sat next to me. He leaned towards me and casually whispered:” how is your patient with the “…” Syndrome doing? (for the sake of patient privacy, I did not name the syndrome)
I had never heard the name of that syndrome before. I turned at him and said: “what patient?” He reminded me of our encounter in the elevator. I remember giving him a smile and a nod, but my mind was somewhere else. There were no smartphones or google search at the time. I so much wanted to read about the diagnosis this “fake” Hopkins graduate just uttered.
I head to my office and start searching for my books. Nothing in my books had any mention of the syndrome he mentioned. A Medline search on the web gave me the verdict. The syndrome Dr Axtell mentioned had my patient figured out! I picked up the phone and called my patient’s father and excitedly I shouted the name of the disease. I didn’t forget to tell him that a colleague of mine, a “Johns Hopkins graduate and top of his class” helped me through it. I could not take the credit for the diagnosis. My patient has since graduated from college and is doing very well.
The years taught me that there are doctors, but then there are doctors! Paul Axtell is one of the later ones. Some people are blessed with a divine insight. My partner Monica Acomb, PNP has a similar gift as well. She is a diagnostician by nature. All what I do is just watch and admire!
Paul Axtell was so humble and casual about his discovery. He must have seen the agony on my face and the father’s. In a 15-second elevator encounter he accomplished what many clinicians failed to do after many visit hours and years of tests.
The Orthopedics banner was handed to well-renowned experts like Dr Ali Mansour and Jason Szabo, PA. Luckily, we continue to feel like we are in great hands.
In his retirement, I am going to miss a colleague and a friend, discussing patients, cars and the new NY weather. You will always be in our hearts Dr Axtell and we will always, continue to admire…
Zahi Kassas, MD
