Heavy burden, light heart

For some, it's the scariest experience of their lives.

For Tom Colton, it's a chance to put on a dress, jump into an inner tube or carry a campaign placard.

Colton, who is undergoing colon cancer treatment at Washington Hematology-Oncology in Yakima, has decided a blip in his health doesn't mean he has to leave his sense of humor at the door.

So the 63 year-old Sunnyside resident has turned his visits to the clinic into grand theater.

"It brightens the office," Colton explains. "And makes life more pleasant for everyone."

For a recent treatment, he parlayed current events into an opportunity to come dressed as a candidate for the U.S. presidency, complete with American flags, red-white-and-blue hat and campaign signs. He also arrived in a banner-festooned car, with red bows on the windshield wipers.

Technically, it isn't Colton who's running for president -- it's "Flip," or the pump he carries with him for medical treatments. Colton just goes along with whatever "Flip" wants, he claims.

"Flip" came to life in June 2007 when Colton began his first round of chemotherapy. As oncology nurse Barb Linden was giving Colton instructions for using a pump, the device which helps modulate the flow of cancer-fighting drugs into his system, she offhandedly mentioned that some patients come up with names for their pumps because they spend so much time with them.

Thus, "Flip" was born, quickly becoming a part of Colton's life. (Or vice-versa.)

The pump's personality began to jell when a tongue-in-cheek Colton took photos of it sitting on a haystack, surrounded by dolls, and riding on a four wheeler. The pictures became part of an album, which is kept at the clinic.

Then, one thing led to another, and soon nurses were suggesting new personas and scenarios for "Flip."

"They come up with a situation, and I adapt," Colton explains. "We have a lot of laughs, and it helps break up the seriousness we're in."

So now, when Colton goes in for bi-weekly treatments, "Flip" is almost always dressed for the occasion.

Recently, Colton appeared as an Olympic inner tube competitor, a female singer, (with dress, purse and painted toenails) and with a bag over his head ("'Flip' had been bad," he explains.)

Clinic nurses never quite know what to expect, but they believe Colton's appearances raise the spirits of both patients and staff.

"Everyone gets involved, and that makes a difference. It tightens the bonds with people and makes it easier to get through the day," Linden said.

Both Colton's wife, Lorene, and his sister Pat Howard accompany him to his treatments and wholehearted support his efforts to elevate attitudes. On the campaign rally day, for instance, they posed as "Flip's" security detail, dressed all in black, armed with feather dusters as weapons, head phones firmly ensconced in their ears.

"Now he's roped the ladies into his delusion," Dr. Albert Brady, Colton's physician, groused facetiously as he watched "Flip" and company in action.

When Colton isn't undergoing chemo, he works as manager of a pipe plant in Sunnyside. But that still leaves him plenty of time to dream up new activities for "Flip."

In particular, he's looking forward to Halloween.

"It almost makes you want to come in, doesn't it?" jokes Linden.

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