Rob Ford moved to another hospital

(Updated)

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford remains in hospital tonight — but there is little information about how long he may stay there — or how serious his condition may be. Ford was transferred to one of the country’s top cancer hospitals earlier this afternoon. And doctors there are carefully minding his health, and his privacy.

The news, isn’t good.

Dr. Zane Cohen, Mount Sinai Hospital: “He is resting comfortably. He has some pain. We are giving him some pain medication.”

Rob Ford was transferred to one of the top cancer hospitals in the country, and put under the care of one of its best physicians — where he underwent a CT scan, ultrasound and a biopsy. But Dr. Zane Cohen says they still need more information: “We will not the results of that for about a week. And until we have that, there is really very little I can tell you about what we will have to do.”

The Toronto mayor seemed in good spirits on Tuesday when he met with boxer Mike Tyson, but was apparently in pain. Within hours of that meeting he was in hospital — the pain in his lower abdomen now excruciating. Taken to Humber River hospital — doctors discovered a mass in his lower abdomen. At Mount Sinai — Dr. Cohen would not estimate the size of the tumor — but his comments about the source of the mayor’s pain, spoke volumes: “It could be the size. It could be the nerves that enter into other organs that cause this sort of pain. Basically, I would say pressure.”

The 45-year old mayor will undergo an MRI tomorrow, and his case will be taken up by an inter-disciplinary medical team — a somewhat significant escalation of his care. But Cohen was careful to tread a fine line between providing information about a public figure, and guarding the privacy of his patient, avoiding speculation about how long Ford may be in hospital, or how serious his condition may be: “Well, we’re always concerned about all of our patients whenever we do an investigation so, — I’m not going to answer any more than that.”

At the moment — Ford’s run for re-election is up in the air — as it is not clear how severely the tumour will affect the mayor’s campaign.

There has been speculation that Doug Ford, may step in. He has until 2pm tomorrow to register — if he intends to replace his brother.

This is not the first time the Ford family has dealt with this kind of concern. Rob Ford had abdominal surgery in 2009 to remove a tumour on his appendix. His father, Doug Ford Sr., died of colon cancer in 2006.