“I lived without part of my skull”: “Briana Lane is recovering from surgery – after living with only ‘half of her skull’ for months. The 22-year-old from Midvale, Utah, US, was injured in a car accident in January this year, AP agency reports.

Doctors had to remove part of her skull during surgery, leaving just skin and sutures covering almost half her head.

She remained that way for four months while the hospital and her health insurance program Medicaid argued over who should pay for her surgery.

Briana feels lucky to have survived the accident but says living without a portion of her skull was ‘excruciating’. When she woke up in the morning, she would notice how her brain had shifted during the night to one side.

She was given a plastic street hockey helmet to wear during the day for protection. Briana said: ‘You’d think they could give me something more protective. Like a skull, perhaps.’

Despite being released from the hospital in February, Briana’s skull remained in a hospital freezer until April while the paperwork passed back and forth…” — BBC [thanks, Pam]