Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Mayor Rob Ford has been sidelined by one very painful six-millimetre kidney stone.
Mr. Ford was discharged from Sunnybrook Hospital on Thursday afternoon, just a few hours after checking into its outpatient program with intense pain.
He's recuperating and is still taking calls, said press secretary Adrienne Batra - indeed, reached by The Globe and Mail on his cell, the mayor said he's doing "not too bad" before passing the phone to someone else who referred questions to his doctor.
The pain started on Wednesday, when Mr. Ford was in meetings at City Hall.
"They were just some meetings with the auditor and some meetings with some of the real estate people - just briefing sessions in the mayor's offices," deputy mayor Doug Holyday said.
"He kept going, but you could see that he was in discomfort and pain. … He was talking there about maybe seeing his doctor to get some relief; I guess he did that."
Mr. Holyday said he got a call from Mr. Ford's office Thursday morning saying the mayor would have to cancel his appointments for the rest of the week, including a Thursday evening meeting with auditor Jeff Griffiths and one Friday with Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi.
Mr. Ford was treated at Sunnybrook by emergency physician Michael Feldman.
"Some kidney stones, if they're small enough, are likely to pass on their own," he said. "Larger ones might need further intervention, beyond my expertise. ... Anything under five, six millimetres tends to have a good chance of passing. Anything over five to six tends to have a much lower chance of passing. The urologist will then need to do something to get it out."
Ms. Batra said the mayor's kidney stone is between five and six millimetres. She said Mr. Ford, who will see a urologist on Friday, is "in good spirits as some of the pain has subsided.
"He is still returning phone calls, he is still talking to constituents, and he's still open for business."
Mr. Holyday said this isn't the first time Mr. Ford has suffered from kidney stones.
"I've seen him go through this before. He did have to go into hospital before to pass a stone - that was a few years back, now, but he might have had others," Mr. Holyday said. "Sometimes people who are susceptible to that, it repeats itself. I understand it's a very uncomfortable thing to have happen."
Mr. Holyday added he thinks the mayor should be back in City Hall by early next week.
"I guess it just depends how long it takes to pass the stone or dissolve the stone. I'm not sure what they do. … It doesn't sound nice to me, anyway."