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Rob Ford at work in March of 2008 at Toronto City Hall.Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail

This story was originally published in 2009

Fielding calls from work is usually the last thing on the mind of most people recovering from surgery.

Not Councillor Rob Ford.

Today the Etobicoke councillor was gamely taking media calls from his hospital bed, filling us in on the details of his recent health scare.

On Thursday morning, Mr. Ford says he awoke with the kind of stomach pains he "wouldn't wish on his worst enemy."

He rushed down to the ER at Humber River Regional Hospital, where doctors did an ultrasound. Mr. Ford says he was originally told his small intestine was twisted with his large intestine and the kinks would work themselves out, but after 12 hours and no change the doctors took a closer look. They discovered Mr. Ford had a tumour on his appendix, which was infected, and the whole works had to come out right away.

"It really freaked me out when they said tumour," Mr. Ford said today from the hospital, after pausing briefly to chat with one of the hospital's nurses.

Doctors removed Mr. Ford's appendix and part of his colon where the tumour had spread, but Mr. Ford said surgeons were able to remove all of the tumour.

Mr. Ford says he'll likely be in hospital for a couple more days and then continue his recovery at home and hopes to be back at work in the next few weeks.

"The doctors and nurses here have been great," he said. "They've been teasing me, saying I can't go after those left-wingers as hard as I used to."

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