The person who has less energy may still have a clear opinion about how to use it.

When somebody is ill, elderly or worn out, decisions start being made in the corridor instead of with them. The reasoning is kind: they have little energy, so why spend any of it on choosing. Limited energy makes the choosing matter more, though, because whatever is spent is spent instead of something else. Weakness in the body is not weakness of preference.

Ask directly what they would like to use today on. Offer two or three real options rather than reassurance, and accept an answer that is not the one you would have picked for them.