As far as I understand the "hiding of the blog" was an immediate reaction to make the NYT think for a second and so to stop the publication of the article. Basically it was a statement to underline how seriously he takes his request for privacy. So he can keep the status quo, his income, and so he minimizes any harm to his patients.

But that just means he wanted to change the NYT's mind (the journalist's and/or the editor's at least), not to forever give up blogging. (So it seems to me his preferences are rather complex and they depend on various time-frames.)