With the high dificulty increase is the s9 still profitable
Yes, and when the price of BTC goes back up, the profits should be slightly higher.
I woke up this morning, checked my miners, checked what-to-mine, and I was utterly surprised to find out that profitability from one S9 currently is ~350 USD per month. It is true that difficulty increased one day ago, but profitability is ridiculous now.
I'll still be mining though, once you started you should not give up.