John McCain’s illness could keep him out of politics for longer than expected

US Senator and former Presidential candidate John McCain is currently in his Arizona home where he is recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot above his left eye.

McCain’s absence from the Senate has forced a delay in the vote to repeal Obamacare. Now, sources say that his recovery time may take longer than initially expected.

While many assumed that McCain would make a full recovery in a week’s time, medical sources told the New York Times that recovery may take longer as McCain’s condition is “more serious than he admitted”.

Dr. Nrupen Baxi of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City has commented on McCain’s medical condition saying,

“Usually, a blood clot in this area would be a very concerning issue”.

He continued,

“The recovery time from a craniotomy (the operation McCain underwent) is usually a few weeks.

Usually, a blood clot like this is discovered when patients have symptoms, whether it’s a seizure or headaches or weakness or speech difficulties. Generally, it’s not found on a routine physical because doctors would not know to look for it”.

The New York Times additionally reports,

“The cause of the clot has not been disclosed. The possibilities include a fall or a blow to the head, a stroke or certain brain changes associated with ageing.

Mr. McCain is 80. He also has a history of melanoma, an aggressive skin cancer that can spread to the brain and cause bleeding. That cancer history could have prompted Mr. McCain’s doctors to scan his brain even in the absence of symptoms, some doctors said. The pending pathology reports are expected to help explain what caused the bleeding.

The clot could have been in one of several locations: between the skull and the dura, the membrane that covers the brain; between the dura and surface of the brain; or inside the brain itself”.

Recently, McCain Tweeted the following implying that he making a successful recovery,

John McCain on Twitter: “Thanks to @MayoClinic for its excellent care – I appreciate your support & look forward to getting back to work! https://t.co/eUkFr7jKYB / Twitter”

Thanks to @MayoClinic for its excellent care – I appreciate your support & look forward to getting back to work! https://t.co/eUkFr7jKYB

Should McCain take further time to recover, it could  jeopardise a timely repeal of Obamacare, a flagship priority for the Trump administration.

In the longer term, a prolonged McCain absence from Capitol Hill could mean that Washington would lose a prominent foreign policy hawk. From his position as Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain’s vocal support for Salafists in Syria, the Ukrainian regime, Albanian ultra-nationalism, Kurdish nationalism and his continued support for anti-Russian polices, have been deeply unhelpful to Donald Trump’s stated agenda of a more pragmatic foreign policy.

McCain can rightly be called Donald Trump’s primary critic from within his own Republican party. Now, McCain’s absence could derail Trump’s Obamacare repeal in the short term although a longer term McCain absence could prove to be a source of political relief for the White House.

McCain’s situation is fast becoming a political double-edged sword for Donald Trump.