Logan Daves did not think he was having a heart problem.

A stomach bug had worked its way through his household in Lone Oak, and Logan was the last one to get it. The illness passed, but something did not feel right afterward. He felt drained. He had no energy. Then pain began spreading across his shoulder and collarbone.

“I never had any chest pain,” Logan said. “It was just the top of my shoulder and my collarbone.”

At first, the pain did not seem alarming. Logan had dealt with discomfort in that area for years. This time, it kept getting worse.

“It got intense enough that I wanted to go to the hospital,” he said. “That was the only place I knew that might be able to stop it.”

A Long Wait and a Turning Point

Logan and his wife, Libby, first went to another emergency room. They waited there for about five hours.

“At that point, we didn’t know he was having a heart attack,” Libby said.

They were told Logan would need to be transferred because that facility did not have cardiac specialists or equipment on site. It was not until Hunt Regional’s ambulance arrived that the seriousness of the situation became clear.

“One of the paramedics told me, ‘Your husband has had a heart attack,’” Libby said. “That was the first time we knew.”

Logan was taken by ambulance to Hunt Regional Healthcare, with emergency responders alerting the emergency department ahead of time.

“They were ready when we got there,” Logan said. “They took me straight in.”

Immediate Action

An EKG showed dangerous abnormalities. Doctors determined Logan had suffered a heart attack caused by two dissected blood vessels near his heart. He was taken directly to the cardiac catheterization lab, where two stents were placed.

“When they put the stents in, I was mostly awake,” Logan said. “It was kind of an in-and-out-of-consciousness thing.”

The procedure was more complicated than expected, but it was successful.

Realizing How Serious It Had Been

When Logan woke up, he noticed the difference right away.

“When I woke up, I felt fine,” he said. “People don’t realize how bad they felt until after and then realize how much better they feel.”

He spent several days recovering in the ICU.

“I was extremely impressed with the ICU and the people that worked there,” Logan said. “I can’t think of a single problem that I had.”

Libby remembers sitting alone in the waiting room trying to update family members while waiting for news.

“When they told me he was doing okay and I could go see him, that was a huge relief,” she said.

A Lesson They Want Others to Learn

After the emergency passed, doctors told Logan something surprising.

“They said I didn’t have any plaque buildup or blockages,” he said. “They said my heart was actually in good health.”

That is part of why the experience was so sobering.

“This can happen to anybody,” Libby said.

Looking back, both Logan and Libby wish they had gone straight to Hunt Regional.

“If you think you might be having a heart problem, you want to be somewhere that’s set up to handle it,” Libby said.

Logan now urges others not to second-guess themselves.

“When it comes to your heart, if you feel like there’s something wrong, even if you aren’t sure, you should go have it looked at,” he said. “There is a chance you can wait too long, and I almost did.”

He is grateful that advanced cardiac care was close to home when it mattered most.

“I was very lucky Hunt Regional was here,” Logan said. “If you have a heart issue, you can get it taken care of there.”