Any good psychiatrist would pretty much insist that you be part of the treatment team. You have to know about the illness and what to do to help in both times of good and bad. The disorder is permanent. Your wife will have bipolar disorder for the rest of her life. Now, there are different kinds of bipolars, so she may present with other manifestations of the illness as time goes on.
Suicide is fairly common with the disease.
Still an alarmingly high number. With good treatment and follow-up, it can be pretty well reduced to zero for most folks. Good follow-up is key. Medications for bipolar disorder are many. Which ones are used will depend on individual patient characteristics including sex, type of bipolar disorder, whether your wife wants to become pregnant on medications, concomitant psychiatric and physical illnesses, and most importantly, individual reactions to medications.