A good day for Joe and the girls, not so much for me – Day 173 – Feb 22, 2026

I have a dentist appointment this morning. My alarm is set for early, so I can shower, eat and get out the door on time. Joe and the girls are still in their PJs when I leave at 8.45am, on a Sunday. I walk down to the subway, and a few stops later, I get off at Mong Kok and enter Langham Place.

I am so early to my appointment, at a dentist office that doesn’t open until 10am, but I decide to find my way there anyways. I take one of the many escalators in the mall, this one leading up to the office section of the building, and ask for floor 25 at the security desk. They punch the number into a giant number pad in front of the bank of elevators, and then tell me which elevator to wait at. The doors open, and there are no buttons on the inside. Everything is automatic.

When I find the right office door, there’s a bit sign with opening hours, 10am to 8pm, 7 days a week. It’s now 9.20am. My appointment is not until 9.45am, which is also before they officially open for the day, so I stand in the hallway, waiting for them to open, or so I think. I see that there are lights on, but the door is locked, so I just wait. Five minutes later, a confident delivery guy walks past me, rings an invisible doorbell, and the door opens… I feel… so silly.

Anyways, I’m in and the happy receptionist asks me to fill in a bunch of papers. Then she takes me in to get my wrap around x-ray done, and I’m back in the waiting room. I don’t have to wait long, before I’m invited in to see the dentist. I tell him about what’s been going on since December, the two dentists in Thailand, the two dentist offices in Vietnam, and that there is still so much pain. Shooting pain up top, dull, constant, expanding pain on the bottom. I show him all the x-rays that have been taken, and he sees the improvements or lack thereof. Then he gives me the options: He can refer me to a specialist for a second root canal on the bottom, with a low chance of success, and a complex root canal on the upper tooth, or extract both teeth today.

I ask for time to think, and head out to the waiting room to connect with Joe. I’m in tears. Keep the teeth and keep this cycle of pain going, with low chances of becoming pain free? Loose two teeth? I’ve been jokingly dreaming of just yanking all my teeth to avoid pain like this ever since the first root canal diagnosis, “do I even need teeth?”, and so in the end, that’s what I decide to do. The two back molars on the left have to go.

The staff at the dental office are very kind. The nurse suggests I go eat something and then come back for the procedure in one hour. After the procedure, I won’t be allowed to eat or drink for 4 hours, to allow the blood to coagulate. Before I head out to find food, I have to sign a 5 page document about extractions, their risks and what I’m getting myself into. It’s scary, but it seems right now like my only avenue out of pain-land.

I head down into the basement, to a café I noticed earlier when I contemplated a cup of milk tea before my appointment, seeing as I was so early. It’s a traditional Hong Kong style tea restaurant, so I order an egg and spam sandwich with a cup of milk tea. No pictures were taken, I had a lot on my mind.

Meanwhile, across town, Joe and the girls were heading out on an adventure to find a lion dance performance. The Royal Garden hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui was having a performance this morning, so that’s where they were headed. First they stopped at the photo op in the lobby:

Then they headed out to the driveway, and stood next to two ladies representing the hotel. Apparently, these were important people, as the two lions performed more for them than for the large audience on the other side. Joe and the girls got a prime view of the entire show, and thoroughly enjoyed their lion dance experience.

After the performance, they headed to lunch at a tea restaurant as well, and Téa and I ended up having very similar lunches!

After my lunch, I went back up to the office. Their stated lunch hour is 1pm to 2pm, and my extraction was supposed to be at 11.45am. I told Joe he had to come before 1pm, or he might not be let in. The dentist was delayed, and at 12.45pm I was finally led in to the office. Joe and the girls were still not there.

I won’t say too much about the extractions themselves, but it was not fun. In any way. Do not recommend. I want to be asleep if I ever have anything more than a filling done, ever again.

The work all done, teeth in a little bag, and biting down on gauze, I come out to the waiting room and find Joe and the girls. The girls both treat me as if I’m made of glass, but I get good hugs from all three of them. I am so relieved, in pain, but hopefully not for much longer. Once this heals, both my reasons for pain for the last two months will be gone, and hopefully I can resume a painless existence!

We take an Uber home, and I go straight to bed. If I can’t eat or drink, I might as well try to sleep. My mouth is still so numb from all the extra numbing shots the dentist had to give me during the ordeal.

The girls play, Joe makes dinner, and by the time I emerge, the numbing has started wearing off. By 7pm my mouth is feeling more normal, and I can start my course of painkillers and antibiotics. It’s a quiet and early night for me, and with a stark warning not to brush my teeth tonight, I head to bed, hoping to feel better in the morning.