By day she is a mild-mannered school marm. But bubbling under that facade is a mild-mannered school marm. So how does she get herself into these situations.

I was suspicious when the trip to Auckland's red-light district with the school staff excluded the male partners. Just a nice meal out with the girls.

I never did find out how the food was. Gail was more interested in telling me about the staff and people at the bar, who upon closer inspection turned out to be transvestites. It was an evening of innuendo. A guy from the bar tried to pick up one of the group. And then there were the passers by on the street stopping to take in the free performance thru the front window where they were seated.

What is known about it?
The brain doesn't function properly. You feel pain, when there isn't any reason for it. The system doesn't work properly. It doesn't turn off; it thinks that it must be in fight mode all the time, causing most of the symptoms, which can be described as having a bad flu all time. People with CFS have low blood volume (don't know why) and this causes the brain problens and it tells the body that there is an emergency - great blood loss, shut down blood to all parts of the body aside from the brain and kidneys.

How does it affect you?
I live a half-life. It takes me twice as long to do anything that normal people do. I have a "window" from noon to 3PM (a well-known ME phenomenom) when I can do physical things. I have good days but then I have bad days where I can barely get out of bed. I am very weak. Most of my joints and muscles are sore. The pain keeps me from falling asleep. When I do sleep I don't get refreshed - I wake up just as lousy as when I went to bed. I have a permanent headache. I am allergic to almost everything. I am hyper-sensitive to odors - perfume, gasoline, paint. My brain is exhausted. It is hard to concentrate, I forget things, I get muddled with words. But mostly the overall, constant pain drives me down. A very common way of describing it is: "I feel like I am dying".

How do you cope?
I am blessed with an inner strength that won't let me lie down and give up. I can still laugh. I have a great wife who is totally supportive and understands what I am going through. I have a good doctor and I can get medication to ease the symptoms. I have friends who avoid using perfumed products and shower thoroughly before they come over. I meditate, pray and think positively. I avoid going to places like shopping malls, theaters, parties (anywhere where people wear perfume). I try to avoid stress (that's why I quit working). I don't exercise (I can't anyway). I live in the glory days of the past, but I also plan for a great future. And I try to smile when a person tells me that I should try acupuncture, homeopathy, propolis, vitamin B shots etc. They just don't understand. Doctors of the world are working on the problem and they haven't got an answer yet. I have been to scores of doctors, in the past ten years I have tried many things. There is no cure. I just wait.

"The good thing about ME is you can't die of it. The bad thing about ME is that you can't die of it". Dr. Ken Jolly

About one person in 1000 has ME.