Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch in hospital again

Former Mayor Ed Koch has been hospitalized for the third time in less than five months, this time for fluid retention and swollen ankles.

He was taken to New York-Presbyterian Medical Center Saturday night by a friend where he remained Sunday while undergoing tests, said Diane Coffey, his former chief of staff. "His spirits are excellent," Coffey said..

Koch, 88, appeared lethargic on Saturday and went into the hospital that night after friends at dinner recommended he seek medical attention, according to press reports.

The feisty former mayor, who was in office from 1979 to 1988 and is the subject of a new documentary, has survived both a stroke and a quadruple bypass. He was hospitalized in September for anemia and landed there again in December with a respiratory infection.

At his Dec. 12 birthday party at Gracie Mansion shortly after being released from the hospital, Koch told celebrants he was doin' OK: "I wake up every morning and I say, Oh, I'm still in New York!"