christie
Stay positive and focused. I am female and only been diagnosed for a year. My brother and I both were diagnosed together. Family that is alive and 3 generations back has not had or heard of this disease. Needless to say, it was a shocker for me. You are lucky (in an odd sense) to know ahead of time what to look for, and luckier to know that your father is doing well. Since being diangosed after my pregnancies, I can only tell you that after each pregnancy I was out of sorts and had a lot of hip and back pain. I saw a chiropractor thinking that giving birth caused it. He did not help and it seemed to get better on it's own approx. 6 months later. In retropect, I think I was in a flare; at the time, I was totally unaware of what a flare was. Keep your chin and spirits up! You are not alone and medical technology will come up with something in the not-so-distant future!