When a patient asks what I think about them retiring, I usually say, like the Queen: “Don’t.” 

Even if they’re aged 79, I have been known to encourage patients to keep on keeping on, especially when they love their job (or at least most aspects of it).

“Cut down your days or hours if you are ready, but don’t give your work away completely,” I advise.

I suppose my rationale comes from the lyrics of a Joni Mitchell song that go, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone (they paved paradise, put up a parking lot).”