The man, the myth, the legend Rush Limbaugh gave an update about his stage 4 lung cancer at the start of his show today ... and it was not good.

Rush said, "It's tough to realize that the days where I do not think I'm under a death sentence are over." 😭

Some highlights from his monologue:.

So, last week was treatment week. Was it last week? The week before. The week before was treatment week. And I got some scans. I don't get scans every treatment week. The scans did show some progression of cancer. Now, prior to that, the scans had shown that we had rendered the cancer dormant. That's my phrase for it. We had stopped the growth. It had been reduced, and it had become manageable.

But there's always the reality and the knowledge that that can change and it can come back because it is cancer. It eventually outsmarts pretty much everything you throw at it. And this, of course, this is stage 4 lung cancer ... and stage 4 is, as they say, terminal. So we have some recent progression. It's not dramatic, but it is the wrong direction.

So we have to tweak the treatment plan, which we did, and the chemotherapy drugs in hopes of keeping additional progression at bay for as long as possible. The idea now is to keep it where it is or maybe have it reduce again. We've shown that that is possible. If it happened once, it can happen again. So that's the objective of the current treatment plan.

For those of you that have been paying attention to the ballgame analogy of this, when I last left off, I was rounding second base and I was chugging toward third. The objective was to hit a home run, to get a home run: Go all the way around the bases, go to home plate and beat this. So I was rounding second, on the way to third — and I realized I wasn't gonna make it.

I had to turn around and make a mad dash, head back to second base. I slid in there, got into second base safely, and that is where I am. I was trying to steal third base, trying to steal some more ground. But I got waved back to second base. So that's where I am, stuck on second base — fully committed, however, to stealing third and rounding towards home.

You know, all in all, I feel very blessed to be here speaking with you today. Some days are harder than others. I do get fatigued now. I do get very, very tired now. I'm not gonna mislead you about that. But I am extremely grateful to be able to come here to the studio and to maintain as much normalcy as possible — and it's still true.

You know, I wake up every day and thank God that I did. I go to bed every night praying I'm gonna wake up. I don't know how many of you do that, those of you who are not sick, those of you who are not facing something like I and countless other millions are. But it's a blessing when you wake up. It's a stop-everything-and-thank-God moment ...

Someone told me — I think this is good advice, may be helpful — the only thing that any of us are certain of is right now, today. That's why I thank God every morning when I wake up. I thank God that I did. I try to make it the best day I can no matter what. I don't look too far ahead. I certainly don't look too far back. I try to remain committed to the idea what's supposed to happen, will happen when it's meant to. I mentioned at the outset of this — the first day I told you — that I have personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is of immense value, strength, confidence, and that's why I'm able to remain fully committed to the idea that what is supposed to happen will happen when it's meant to. There's some comfort in knowing that some things are not in our hands.

El Rushbo then came back from an "obscene profit break" and offered a little context, sharing how dire the situation was when he was first diagnosed:

Late January, whenever it was, is when I got this diagnosis. Folks, the kind of cancer I have … I've never publicized what it is. It's just stage 4 lung cancer. But let me just put it to you this way: It was hopeless. It was absolutely hopeless. Yet a treatment regimen was begun, and the first two of them failed. (chuckling) I mean, big-time failed. The third one? Magic! It worked. That's where we were able, over the course of months, to render the cancer dormant.

I'll just put it to you this way: After receiving the diagnosis, I never thought I would see October 1st. I never thought I would. When October 1st hit on the calendar this year, I reminded myself of that — of that thought. If we go back to the end of January, early part of February when I was first told of my diagnosis and the reaction…

The doctor said, "If you don't do anything, we're looking here at a couple of months. If you look at treatment, if it works, we're looking at…" And then they wouldn't give me a time. They still won't. They won't do that. But I'm just gonna tell you, there is no way back in January and February that I had anything but hope that I would still be alive on this day, October 19th, and that I would be fully productive working.

I want to point out one other thing he said:

"But at the same it's been a while, because of all that, that we've updated you. And I know you're out there praying for me. It's unbelievably humbling to know how many — it's gotta be in the millions of people who are actively praying."

Let's all keep praying for Rush. He is such a vital and irreplaceable voice in America.