Thank you Army. I had feared that the answer was hope that it stops. Hopefully this judge does not have an extraordinary amount of patience for the "illness" excuse a third, fourth or fifth time.
I am currently pursuing a small claims case against a former landlord for not returning a security deposit. She has rescheduled twice now for "illness". Supposedly she was supposed to have sent a notice to me 10 days before to let me know, but I never received it for the second rescheduling...