You have great taste in podcasts.

This is deeply human, and I am your host, Dessa.

Our topic of the day is menopause.

And before you run off thinking, I'm too young for this one, or I'm too dude for this,

I can almost guarantee that you will be both surprised and entertained, maybe even

rendered a kinder son or daughter.

Menopause is actually a really rare condition in the animal world. The only mammals who go through

are us and some species of whales.

Okay, sidebar for a quick story.

Many years ago, when I was 23, my doctor found a tumor in my right ovary,

and in a blur of a few weeks, a surgery was scheduled, the ovary was taken out, and I moved into my dad's basement to recuperate.

My doctors said I'd still be fertile. My left ovary

would essentially pull double shifts for the next couple of decades, ovulating every month

and releasing enough hormones to keep my system balanced. But there was a slight lag in my hormone

production before my left ovary realized it was the only one left at the party, and I got a sneak

peek of premenopause.

I remember lying awake one night with a never before experienced sort of insomnia, not the familiar toss-and-turn routine, but a razor-sharp alertness and this feverish heat.

The nighttime sounds gave away to the first morning traffic, then the

footfalls of my family walking on the floor above me, and I registered all of it in this

unrelenting, high-definition consciousness, and eventually I decided, I guess it's time to get

up and put some clothes on. And when I rose, I saw the outline of my body on the bed sheets. My sweat had traced the

edges of me in salt, like police chalk on cotton. Most mammals remain fertile all the way to the end

...