"I had made my mind up that I wanted my surgeon to be Dr. Carlin's partner. I had met him before and liked his sarcastic personality. So when I heard that Dr. Carlin saw afternoon patients instead of his partner, I was dissapointed since I knew I'd have to make my appointment for after work. Mind you, I had not even met Dr. Carlin at this point. Well, at my consultation with him I ended up really liking him. He's very easy going and I felt extremely comfortable with him and confident in his surgical skills. The staff was wonderful. They were kind, pleasant and efficient. You can tell they really care about their patients. I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about Dr. Carlin. This program is extremely thorough both before and after surgery. You must have a psych eval, medical clearance, meet with the exercise physiologist and lose a certain amount of weight before surgery to make for a better surgical risk & decrease the fat on your liver. They also have you attend a 4 hour orientation with the nurse and the dietician, to which you must bring your significant other or support person. I brought my brother. Another thing you must do is write a letter of intent to the surgeon expressing your knowledge and understanding of the surgery and the lifestyle changes necessary afterwards. I can't rate him overall yet since I have not yet had my surgery, but the bedside manner so far is excellent and I have heard nothing but good things about him and his staff. "
