If you're going to be sitting with your dad for awhile, there is a great book on Celiac Disease that can give you a LOT of information - you might check with the hospital to see if they have it in their library; if not, check with your local library, or purchase a copy (you can order it on Amazon). It is Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic by Dr. Peter H.R. Green, M.D. It is well-written, and easy for us non-doctors to understand (I still refer to my copy, 2 years later!). A newly revised version was released earlier this year, if you decide to order it. Dr. Green is one of the leading Celiac Disease researchers in the USA.

Incidentally, Celiac Disease is genetically-linked, so if one person in a family tests positive for it, everyone else is at a higher risk of developing it (or at the very least, to have issues with gluten). It is recommended that all family members be tested if one member is diagnosed with it. It is currently estimated that 1-in-133 people have it, but only 3% of them currently know that they have it. That means that 3 million people in the US have CD, yet 2.9 million of them DON'T KNOW THAT THEY HAVE IT.

Most doctors were taught to look for certain markers for CD, and they were taught that it was a relatively rare disease. As more information has become available, however, CD researchers rapidly realized that the condition is much more common than originally believed. More doctors are becoming aware of the "other" symptoms to look for, but it is taking time to get the message out to all of them.

Here's another article that might help - it has some good information in it on the background of gluten sensitivity (it's from a holistic "source"; I'm not a big fan of holistic stuff, but the research appears to be sound):
http://www.baumancollege.org/pdfs/ar...ensitivity.pdf

I don't mean to bog you down with a lot of reading material, but I remember what it is like to sit in a hospital room feeling helpless while someone you love is being treated. It always helped to feel like I was doing SOMETHING that might help in some small way.....

Hugs to you and your family!