A torn ACL and meniscus turned out not to be the only health issues doctors discovered when they examined Mariano Rivera on Monday.
They also found a blood clot in his right calf, causing the closer to stay overnight in the hospital and striking fear into his heart.
“I was more concerned about the blood clot than the knee,” Rivera said. “For a minute I thought, ‘What else is gonna happen?’… I was scared. I never hear good things about blood clots.”
Rivera, who complained of pain of stiffness in the area before learning of the blood clots, has been on blood thinners ever since. He said the clot will not delay the date of the surgery, which still has not been set because he needs to rehab the knee and get some range of motion back before going under the knife.
Paul J. Bereswill
Mariano Rivera
Rivera expects the surgery to happen in the next “couple of weeks” and added that doctors weren’t able to tell him whether the injury led to the clot or if it was there before he crumpled to the ground on the warning track in Kansas City last Thursday.
He declined to guess if he’d be able to come back this season, although the Yankees have already ruled him out.
“I don’t want to go that far,” Rivera said. “I just want to take it day by day. I don’t want to put a time frame in my mind, ‘I want to be ready for this time’ [because] if it doesn’t happen, I might be disappointed.”
But he made it clear again that he intends to pitch again.
“That’s what I want,” Rivera said. “I want to do that but I don’t know what the Lord has for me.”
The 42-year-old added that he was most likely going to come back in 2013 even before the injury — despite hinting at retirement in spring training.
“I was leaning toward coming back,” Rivera said. “I was pretty strong on that.”
The time he’s going to miss isn’t going to change that.
“I didn’t have the chance enough to taste the season,” Rivera said. “I was wondering how I would feel: the traveling, the game, it’s the same. The traveling, I hate it; and playing, I love it.”
That includes taking fly balls in the outfield during batting practice.
“It happened doing something I love,” Rivera said. “After 22 years of shagging, it happened.”
And he doesn’t intend to stop when he comes back.
“No doubt,” Rivera said. “I don’t know what the Yankees are gonna do. Maybe they’re gonna tie me up.”
Joe Girardi just wants him back on the field.
“I really believe if Mo wants to continue to play, he’ll play,” the manager said.
In the meantime, Rivera intends to be a visible presence around the team.
“I definitely will try to stay with the club as much as possible, but I also have to focus on myself,” Rivera said. “I’ll try to help in any way I can. I don’t think it will be much, but I’ll be here.”
And he hopes that changes next season.
“I don’t try to prove nothing,” Rivera said. “I don’t want to leave the way it happened. … If it’s my call, I don’t want to leave like that.”
dan.martin@nypost.com
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