Boyfriend Plucks Surgical Screw Poking Out of Woman's Head in DIY Project

Talk about having a literal screw loose!

A Canadian woman woke up on Sunday with a headache ... only to discover a surgical screw was poking out of her head.

Here's what happened ... 14 months ago, Stephanie Faure had brain surgery to remove some tumors, so docs put in a metal plate and a couple screws to keep her skull intact.

She told CBC News a screw "presumably just came loose over time and was making its way out. It kind of just felt like being scraped from the inside."

Naturally, Stephanie went to the ER at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ... and sat in the waiting room for five and a half hours! To make things worse -- when she finally got seen -- the doctor completely blew her off and told her it was "a cyst that looked like a screw."

Being so ignored was frustrating, Stephanie said ... "You could pretty visibly see what it was. And he was just telling me it wasn't what I was seeing."

She wanted the doc to let her get a second opinion from someone -- anyone -- else ... but was told to get lost instead.

So, removing the screw became a DIY project ... her boyfriend used tweezers and some tools to get it out at home.