extend

talk to them and they may let you extend. my friend has been doing ph.d. for 16+ years and still doing his thesis. he is not doing it every single day for 16+ years though. he was like you, finish courses and then went to do other things while continuin registration at school. this year he hsa back to school and has been offically doing this thesis. last time i checked with him, he said he was making real progress for the 1st time. his adviser did not give him a hard time for staying in school too long.