John McCain may have just undergone surgery related to his highly aggressive cancer diagnosis, but that didn’t stop Republicans leaning on him to see if his head incision has healed enough to withstand hours in a pressurized aircraft cabin for Tuesday’s procedural vote towards repealing Obamacare.

McCain duly appeared on the Senate floor and voted to advance to debate on replacing Obamacare, though he said he would not vote for the replacement bill as it stands.

The Republican leadership defended themselves against the charge that they were interrupting his medical care for a very serious illness by saying they are not asking for anything special.

“It’s nothing we won’t be asking him to help us do to tens of millions of other Americans.”

When reached for further comment, Mitch McConnell’s office said the majority leader was resting and couldn’t be disturbed.