my partner is now in the hospital with pcp. the doctors say he will live and is actually making a remarkable recovery considering the extent of this O.I. my question is this: what can we realisticaly expect in the months following. please be as straight forward as possible, thank you

The long term prognosis depends to some extent on whether he has ever been on antiviral therapy. If he has been on several types of therapy and is has not been able to lower the viral load, then the prognosis is worse than if he is just now learning of his HIV infection. I say this becasue if he has never been on treatment for the virus he has an excellent chance to go on medications and see an increase in his T cell count and a drop in viral load. While it would have been better never to have PCP he still has a chance for a good long term high quality life. He will be at risk for the PCP coming back but this can be prevented with medications, and if his T cell count goes up on treatment ( antivirals) this risk will be greatly diminished. If this is his first diagnosis of HIV there is reason to be hopeful. I would expect the recovery to take at least a month, if he has been severly ill with the PCP it could take longer, it is really hard to say without more info. I suggest you discuss this with your partner and his doctors to get the best estimate-ask them to be straight and i would hope they will be.

-JC