My life has evolved into an ultra-refined one, not just from an aesthetic or qualitative perspective but through much time spent analyzing and creating systems that work, regularly performing tasks designed to achieve ultimate function. In health matters, personal upkeep, household, studio and kitchen organization I have found ways that side-step confusion and chaos, avoid lost time and energy, elimate hazards and clutter.
We spend a lifetime refining our ways of coping, surviving, functioning. From these ways, tested over time, we create habits, repeatable and reliable. When we are no longer able to perform these practiced tasks because of lost the strength and dexterity, a growing frustration sets in.
Now that I need others to do much of the work, I find I have to explain my systems, though different from what helpers might choose. One dear assistant actually told me I had to give up being fussy. Woe is me! Growing old creates a world of accumulated loss - friends, function, choices.
Our survival systems require a constant change of focus, and lots of adjustment to practiced habits.
In terms of what to do about failing health, I find few answers except to trust my instincts, adapt when possible and avoid doing everything the doctors deem necessary.