Hi there,
Yes, of course everyone's quite right - you go on until you can't, and you might be 98 by then. No doctor can know how RSD affects an individual; in fact no one knows but you. My RSD is mild, I work, some others here do too - and we hear tales of people recovering after perhaps 6 months or a year.
I suspect that if you're asking us the question, you feel you can despite the doc's opinion - so go for it! Unfortunately many of us have to take the doc's pronouncements a little...er..loosely, one way or another
And very good luck with it, it sounds a most rewarding programme.
all the best