After 18 days of feeling sick, not sleeping through the night because of coughing and missing a full week from work fighting a bad case of bronchitis, I finally hobbled back to the office, not quite healthy but starting to mend and with no more sick days left to take. I jumped off the deep end into a very full week, arranging important meetings at the office and even speaking at a late-night Cru meeting. And my cough has lessened.

However, I’ve developed an extremely annoying, intensely itchy, red-hot sunburn-looking rash all over. I guess after the double dose of antibiotics finally quelled the bronchitis it had to attack something else. And my skin seems to be the target.

Today is Day Five of the Rash. And I am so over this.

Why do we so often get kicked while we’re already down? An earthquake strikes and while devastated victims are trying to cope, an aftershock hits which can be almost as bad as the original tremor. After the landslide comes a tsunami. What happened to the idea of calm after a storm?

The sickness or bad circumstances or whatever seems to rear its ugly head for one last sputtering attempt to keep you down. Is it the enemy’s vindictiveness? Or just the unpredictability of life? Whatever its cause, I know I have less resistance to fight back or laugh it off.

The day I was diagnosed with bronchitis and our tree fell down, I actually did see humor in it. But by now I’m tired of it. I’m ready to get out and enjoy the beauty of my favorite season in the mountains without coughing or itching.

What about you? How do you deal with nagging problems that refuse to leave you alone?