It was a simple task, or so the veteran band director from Purchase Line High School assumed.

"It is something very easy to do," Pearce said last week. "I thought it would be a piece of cake."

Imagine Pearce's surprise when he opened his eyes and found that he had drifted way off his spot.

"I had moved four feet to the left," he remembered.

Pearce was unsure what it all meant until Dr. Douglas Chen, director of balance and hearing at Pittsburgh Ear Associates, explained.

"He said, 'It's your balance, Mr. Pearce. You are losing your balance.'"

Pearce had gone to see Chen upon the recommendation of an Indiana audiologist. Earlier in the summer, he had noticed he was having problems hearing and had it checked at a local clinic. An audiologist from Indiana sent the 44-year-old music teacher to Chen's practice in Pittsburgh.

It was there that he was diagnosed with Meniere's (pronounced men-NEARS) disease, an ailment that affects both hearing and balance.

It was also there that Pearce began a journey that has had many twists and turns. Over the past six months, he has learned about a disease that he had previously never heard of. Along the way, he has been frightened by the unknown and cheered by those whom he knows best.

Pearce wants to tell his story so that others will come to understand more about the disease. He believes that his experiences have already taught those in the Purchase Line community a lot about caring for someone in need.

"Every kid here has been learning the word Meniere's," Pearce said. Now he wants others to learn its meaning.

Pearce graduated from Purchase Line High School in 1973. He started teaching there 16 years ago, after stints in the Harmony and DuBois school districts. Besides directing the marching band, he teaches instrumental lessons and music classes and directs the annual spring school musical.

He first began to suspect he had a problem with his hearing while he was teaching last summer for the Governor's School of the Arts, at Gannon University in Erie.

"While I was there, I noticed that in a large-group room, all I could hear was a roar. I was missing everything."

Before that, he had glossed over some other minor problems. For instance, he had noticed over time some ringing in his ears, but dismissed its significance.

"I never panicked. I thought everyone had it. I noticed I was having a hard time hearing kids in class." But Pearce didn't think his auditory loss was a big deal.

At least not until his experiences at Gannon.

After Governor's School ended, he came back home and made the decision to have his hearing checked. The testing at the Indiana auditory clinic led him to Chen's office.

Pearce found he could not shrug off the results of the battery of tests administered by the Pittsburgh specialist.

At first, Chen was unsure what Pearce's problem could be. He suggested that it could be a tumor on the auditory nerve, Pearce said. "That had me terrified."

But after ordering magnetic-resonance imaging and examining the results, Chen diagnosed Pearce with Meniere's syndrome, a disorder of the inner ear that causes hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing of the ear), episodes of dizziness and sometimes vertigo.

Chen's verdict caught Pearce totally off guard.

"I had never heard of Meniere's disease," he said.

The disease, named after French physician Prosper Meniere, strikes about 10 out of every 100,000 people, according to Chen. There are several ways to treat it - through diet, certain drugs and various types of surgery - but no one seems sure about what causes it in the first place. (See related story) About 20 percent of those who get Meniere's suffer in both their ears.

And the disease strikes each person differently. Different patients have differing degrees of hearing and balance loss.

"No one seems the same," Pearce said. "Everyone is unique."

To restore Pearce's hearing loss, Chen ordered a computerized hearing aid that could help him in three different ways.

On one level, the aid helps Pearce with normal conversation. On a second, the aid processes background noise so that Pearce can know what is going on around him.

"It amplifies what is within five feet of me," Pearce said.

In its third function, the aid helps him specifically with his constant work in music.

"It is very tiny," Pearce said. He can switch easily between the aid's three functions. "All I have to do is touch it with my hand."

Because of the aid's size and ease of use, no one really has to know he is using it.

"It is a great deceiver. It is not a topic of conversation."

Chen said the aid is state of the art in technology for the hearing impaired. Different computer programs allow it to perform multiple functions. Chen said it is expensive, about $1,800, but the aid can last for about five years.

Pearce began the school year with the hope that, with the hearing aid, life would go on as it had before his diagnosis. His hearing was fine, and he was ready to go.

But as the fall progressed, he had other problems.

In October, he was having dizziness four or five times a day, each spell lasting from five to 10 minutes. By November, he was having eight spells a day, some lasting up to 45 minutes.

He also had several attacks of vertigo.

"It is very debilitating when you have an attack," he said. "Everything is spinning so violently, at about 100 miles per hour." During such an experience, he can barely function. He gave this example as an explanation. Once he had an attack and decided not to go into work. He tried to call into the district office, to say he was too ill to come in.

"I (had) a phone in my hand - and I couldn't see to push the buttons." His wife, Janice, the business manager for the school district, ended up making the call.

For relief from dizziness or vertigo, Pearce tried to get to a quiet space. If it happened in school, he went to his small office off the band room. Or he just sat in a nearby chair.

"My students were very polite and would stay on task," he said. They would help out whenever they could.

By December, the dizziness could keep Pearce down for up to several hours a day. He had enough, and during Christmas break he went to see Chen.

Pearce said Chen gave him the various options for treatment, including possible surgery. But working together, they decided that Pearce should try histamine, a substance that is produced by the body as a result of an allergic reaction. It can also be manufactured, as a liquid, Chen said, and used for Meniere's patients.

"It causes the blood vessels to dilate, to open up," Chen said. "The improved circulation is thought to help Meniere's patients."

So far it has helped Pearce. Chen gave Pearce a trial dose - just to be sure that Pearce was not allergic to the medicine - in his office. Within 20 minutes, Pearce noticed some relief.

"Within a half-hour, the light-headedness was gone. I was my old self."

Pearce continues to get an injection of the histamine at home. Over the past month or so, the concentration of the serum has increased and Pearce can now go about a week between injections.

"As long as I am on the shots, I feel wonderful."

But Pearce has also learned he must follow a strict diet.

"It has to be extremely low (in) sodium. I am allowed no caffeine, no chocolate, no dairy products, no wheat products." He must also watch his sugar intake.

One recent night, he had pizza and suffered the next day with a bout of vertigo. He has learned that it doesn't pay to stray from his diet.

Besides taking his shots and watching what he eats, Pearce has worked hard to keep a positive attitude.

It hasn't always been easy - "I definitely have my moments" - but Pearce credits his friends and family - including his three children Joseph, 16, Elise, 14, and Kristen, 12 - with helping him over the past six months or so.

"If you sit around and feel sorry for yourself, nothing is going to be improved."

Dr. James Ola, superintendent for the Purchase Line School District, said Pearce's drive and spirit have stayed strong. He has missed little work time and, in addition to his regular duties, this year he directed the fall play, a comedy called "Airplane." As spring approaches, he'll be hard at work on the musical "Guys and Dolls."

"He is willing to do so many extra things for the students and the school," Ola said. "These kids really appreciate what Bill does. He cares about them."

"Everyone has been extremely supportive because 99 percent of the time, I am fine," Pearce said.

But that, he pointed out, can actually lead to one of the more frustrating aspects of Meniere's syndrome: public ignorance and misperceptions.

"If you are not in the middle of an attack, you look perfectly fine." No one is aware you have a care in the world. Then Meniere's raises it ugly head."

People who don't understand "laugh at you and make fun of you for being dizzy."

That has certainly not been his experience over the past several months at Purchase Line, however. Pearce said his students have bent over backward to find ways to help him if he feels dizzy. Once he had a spell while working with the bands and the students became very solicitous.

"They said, 'Mr. Pearce, can I do anything? Mr. Pearce, can I get anything?'"

He took a few moments of quiet, to regain his composure, and moved on.

"I said, 'I'm fine. Let's go.'"