100 Words Per Mile: Stabbing My Wife

On follicles, estrogen, and essential tremors.

September 15, 2020
13.2 miles
1:47:52

My wife’s estrogen is popping off.

Each night I give her two shots—and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure which one does what, but both are supposed to promote ovulation to an extreme level. Each month, a woman naturally produces one mature follicle from only one of her ovaries. When she ovulates, the egg is released into the fallopian tubes, where it is exposed for fertilization and if a sperm doesn’t meet it within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, it is reabsorbed by the uterus. The woman then sheds the lining of her uterus, and this is what the cool kids call the monthlies. What we’re trying to do with these shots is turn that one mature follicle into multiples—maybe ten or fifteen—between both ovaries.

The process of delivering these shots requires a good bit of preparation. A few days prior, the pharmacy delivered a box of goodies, including a bag of syringes with varying sizes of needles, a sharps container—which is like a red, miniature trash can in which we dispose each needle—several boxes of vials for the first shot, a pre-loaded pen for the second shot, a bag of alcohol wipes, and a tiny stress ball in the shape of a pill. Our medicine cabinet in the kitchen is now stuffed, while the contents for the second shot are now in our refrigerator.

The first shot consists of two vials. One has a liquid inside, the other has a powder. I use the syringe to pull the liquid out of the first vial before injecting into the second vial and swirling it—don’t shake!—with the other powder. Once it’s a nice and clear solution, my wife grabs a bit of her belly, I count her down, and I press the syringe into her.