Trigeminal neuralgia hurts like hell. I'm going to have micro vascular decompression surgery, get out of pain, get off these pain medications, and contribute to my family again.

I signed up to have surgery. They’re going to pop a hole in my skull and operate on my trigeminal nerve. It’s called micro vascular decompression surgery.

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John Hoppin: What's The Matter With Me? Podcast, thank you for tuning in. Season three, episode 12, maybe? Maybe 13. I always get the episode wrong in the freestyle edition, but it doesn't matter. (ed: This is Season Three, Episode Thirteen) Welcome to the What's The Matter With Me? Podcast. Season three, episode 12, maybe? 13. (ed: Again, this is episode thirteen) It's another one of these shoot it from the hip episodes.

John Hoppin: I'm not a medical professional. Don't take this for medical advice. If you need medical advice, ask your healthcare provider.

John Hoppin: I can't really talk right now because it hurts. But I wanted to talk to you. Oh, I'm kind of conflicted. Here, I'm going to press this toy. It's a picture of a snail. My kid got it from her grandma who's here visiting us from Japan.

Japanese Toy: (singing).

John Hoppin: Yeah. Okay. A little break. It really hurts to talk for trigeminal neuralgia. I wanted to give you an update, though. What's The Matter With Me? is still cracking. I'm going to take a break every time it hurts too much, okay?

Japanese Toy: (singing).

John Hoppin: Oh. (singing). I like that one. It's about an elephant. Zō-san, that's like Mr. Elephant, zō-san. Yeah.

Japanese Toy: (singing).

John Hoppin: (singing). I don't know all that.

John Hoppin: (singing). Yeah. Okay. So, enough with that zō-san, Mr. Elephant. It hurts, man. So, I wanted to check in, RECAP last episode. Episode 12, did you check it out? It's kind of like a free association, poetry, spoken word kind of thing. It's kind of nebulous. But I've been having a lot of pain, you guys, since Mother's Day. I've been in extreme pain. Right now, weirdly it hurts to touch the inside of my right ear, like to pick my ear, so I can't dry off my ear after the shower, but I also can't even wear headphones to record in the studio. So, I'm out here recording to kind of freestyle with no script, just this sound maker. Here's some birds.

Japanese Toy: (singing).

John Hoppin: You guys, I signed up to have surgery. It's like as close to my brain as you can get. They're going to pop a hole in my skull and operate on my trigeminal nerve. It's a thing called micro vascular decompression surgery. So, basically, there's a blood vessel that's somehow right up next to my trigeminal nerve and it's making all this pain, so they're going to go in there. I signed up next month, because I can't even talk to you guys it hurt so bad. I can't talk to my kids in the morning and say, "Hey, you know, put on sun block," because it hurts to say "puh" and it hurts to say "buh". So, right now it really hurts to talk to you. Let me have a break. Let's see, snowman, duck, whatever.

Japanese Toy: (singing).

John Hoppin: Hey!

Japanese Toy: (singing).

John Hoppin: Yeah.

Japanese Toy: (singing).

John Hoppin: Uh, uh, uh. All right, so not bad. What's The Matter With Me? Podcast. Thank you for listening. I know I haven't been on for a while, but I'm telling you this facial pain is so much that I'm going to have someone chop through my bone and operate on my nerve. But he's a very talented neurosurgeon. He's done over a hundred of these kind of procedures. So, right now, the reality of my life is I'm on two medications. On each of those medications, I'm on the maximum, so I'm like on a double dose. I have to nap at 10:30 in the morning. I get tired. I get tired after lunch and after dinner I go to sleep at 8:00 PM.