Fisher,
Hopefully you are still checking back to see the progress on your thread.
Greetings from San Francisco and Chicago! I wanted share my experience so far with my partner who has been experiencing a depressive episode as of late.
We have a long distance relationship (hence the greetings from midwest and west coast). The end of this month will mark 4 months he has been severely depressed. He has not felt suicidal but he is very flat; without emotion. He has withdrawn from social activities and withdrawn from his friends and family. He doesn't return calls or any form of communication unless it has to do with work. Once the work day is over, he goes home and crashes. During the weekend, he lays around the house and doesn't do much at all except go in and out of sleep. He has detached from me and right now cannot even say if he loves me. It was only a week prior to his episode that he told me he was lucky to have me in his life and missed me terribly. The depression hit and it sucked all the passion and energy out of him. I have only spoke to him 3 times in the last 3 months. When he opened up to me about his BP disorder, he was balanced at the time; not experiencing any high or low mania. He told me what happens when it hits; he becomes terribly withdrawn and his self-esteem is attacked. He feels worthless and his feelings for anything and anyone become numb. So now that it has hit, I completely immersed in educating myself about the disorder as much as possible. I wanted to know what to expect and also sought therapy to help myself to cope with it. Like you, I go back and forth on what the future holds for me with him. But, what keeps me going is knowing him for going on 8 years and really who he is without the depression or the mania. He was dx many years ago and has been actively seeking/taking treatment; counselor, pdoc, meds, etc. in order to live a normal life as much as possible. He experienced a breakthrough (not good) with his current meds so his doctor is having him chart his moods and possibly reevaluating his dx. This is something that could happen; a person with depression could be re-dx at a later time as BP. Having breakthroughs with your meds is alos something that is common; the body develops a tolerance to certain meds so the pdoc needs to prescribe another mix of dosages or meds until something works and the person is back to normal again. I have no plans of going anywhere except right by his side through all of this. I don't know what the future holds in terms of the extremes the illness could have on him at a later date, but because he is vigilant on treatment, I have all the faith we will succeed and live a normal life. I am not niave tot he fact episodes will be experienced now and agian, but I'm determined to get through them with him. I love him so very much and cannot imagine anyone else makes me as happy as he does. The last 4 months are a drop in the bucket compared to an entire future.
Bless you for sticking by her side, she is one lucky woman...and I bet you're one lucky dog yourself 
!
WCC