 Geometric return count before absorption

Start a Markov chain at a nonabsorbing state $i$. If each departure from $i$ has probability $p>0$ of absorption before the next return, the Strong Markov property makes the number of visits to $i$, including the initial one, a positive-integer geometric random variable of parameter $p$. For a continuous-time Markov chain whose holding times at $i$ are independent rate-${\lambda }_i$ exponentials, independently of the embedded jump chain, the total occupation time at $i$ is a sum of $K$ such holding times and has expected value $1/(p{\lambda }_i)$.