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I reckon this week is a write-off.

The prior statements and current questions: RL stated that a relatively new, relatively experimental type of treatment was being proposed. Early on he said he received 2 treatments per day and one of them was administered at 2 pm ie in the middle of the program with no apparent hindrance to the 3 pm hour.

He also stated that the first week he missed after the announcement would be to travel so he could undergo testing and/or treatment. He did return after that but as he said in his recorded message earlier this week (in a very weak voice) he’s having a bad reaction to the chemo - and I believe that’s the first time he used the term although a sensible person would assume it would be chemo. He certainly isn’t alone in having such a reaction and one imagines that the dosage/potency required to target and somehow play catch-up with a Stage 4 diagnosis is considerable indeed.

We don’t know - and aren’t necessarily entitled to know - how long the current treatment regimen will last. The conventional wisdom on chemo is that they nearly have to kill the patient in order to sufficiently weaken the cancer itself. There is often a ‘course’ of finite length and then the patient undergoes more tests, scans, etc. while he regains some strength and stamina with a high probability of having to do it all over again at least once.

Note that all of the above make no mention of the coronavirus. Cancer patients, especially those on chemo, usually have every system in their bodies weakened including the immune system. Add in his age and one would have to, regrettably, conclude that the doctors are on high alert about his vulnerability to coronavirus or even more common and established forms of cold and flu, personal and herd immunity notwithstanding.

In sum, even in the rare event he feels able to return to the microphone it may be possible that his doctors will forbid such action due to the virus threat.