My nurse practitioner suggested a second ultrasound to check out my newly discovered blood clot, a result, the doctors say, of the illness that has grounded me for a week or so.

Once again, we drove to Malta to Saratoga Hospital’s secondary testing center, which offers walk-in blood and ultrasound testing. Two days ago, the first test found a small blood clot.

It has swollen a bit, reddened, and is painful at times, so we tested it again to make sure it was one of those secondary clots that are not in any direct arteries to the heart. Those are the dangerous ones.

I was concerned about it, and I still am, it wasn’t there before the fall, and I’d like it to go away.

The treatments, if any are usually blood thinners.

In this case, Amy said she didn’t think it required medications and would go away on its own as she got better. The other possibility is that I fell on it when I came thumping down the stairs, foolishly rushing to get to the bathroom.

I haven’t spoken to her since the second test, but she or the nurse would have called me if the test was alarming. I’ll catch up with them tomorrow. I have no more doctor’s appointments for a month or so (if I continue to get well), and that feels good.

Maria drove me around all day. When we got home, she was anxious. She has some bad memories in Saratoga, and so she went out to the woodshed and stacked wood for an hour or so. That’s how she relaxes.

(So far, she’s stacked one and a half cords. One-half cord to go.)

Under our Care Agreement, Maria has almost all of tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday to work as long in her studio as she wishes. We’ll have breakfast together and if I need any help, it will be in the morning and then in the evening. In between, and barring some emergency I’m on my own.

The only thing I have on my calendar is taking my car in to get it inspected tomorrow, I can just drop it off, and take Zinnia for her first grooming Friday afternoon.

In between, a lot of resting, some blogging, some picture taking, some book reading.

That lesson was learned. Don’t run on an old dark staircase with no lights on. Mary Ellen, the tech who conducted the ultrasound was kind enough to show me my clog, it was a black blog with a white border around it, and went down a part of an ancillary vein just below my right knee.

I asked if I could take a photo of it, but they said no. (Actually I have the right if I demanded it, it’s my clot after all, and I’m paying for the test, but I didn’t want to push it.)

I said hello to my clot, it didn’t look especially frightening or impressive. We’ll see what happens.

Tonight, I’ll read a bit, watch some light comedy on TV, and then go to sleep early. I’ve been getting six or seven hours of sleep, which seems to be what I need, and am getting up early. So is Maria. We both like it, especially when the days are long and bright.

I might even slip over to the gym tomorrow to see if I can ride the bike or walk the treadmill for a few minutes. I won’t push it.