The women are seeking fertility treatment for a variety of reasons.
They've had a couple miscarriages, and they're pushing 40.
They don't have fallopian tubes or they need sperm.
All of them wind up at the fertility clinic at Yale University.
They meet their doctors, get the info, start giving themselves the shots, and eventually they get to the day they've been waiting for.
The day of the first egg retrieval.
The day of the retrieval.
The women arrive at the clinic.
They check in on different mornings in different months and calendar years.
None of them are here on the same day, but they will come out of the day with the same story.
They started the procedure, and, you know, I was just sort of taken by surprise, not expecting the excruciating pain.
My blood pressure started going up.
I was sweating profusely and telling them I was just in too much pain, that they had to stop at that point.
I remember them giving me more of the pain medication and me saying, you know, it's not making a difference.
I remember yelling or kind of making like, ah.
And really, like, looking in confusion at my nurse, the attending nurse, and her saying, you know, I'm giving you the most I can legally give you.
She said that that's the maximum that she's allowed to give me, so she couldn't give me anything else.
At one point, they did say that I had maxed out.
I couldn't have any more fentanyl or Versette.
And I was like, how is this possible?