So I did something stupid 10 days ago and tried to pet a cat that was in the street outside of a house (delivery driver) and near the wheel of my car.  It tolerated me for about a second or two and then hissed and bit me.  Not a full-on puncture and in fact just a tiny scratch with it's tooth that barely bled.  The cat left me alone as soon as I stopped touching it, however it did not run away and I had to push it away from my car with my foot.  My wife says this is normal cat behavior and it just didn't want to be pushed around in its own territory.  However I can't help but think that the cat was "acting weird." When I finally drove away, the cat was sniffing someone else's truck parked on the street which as far as I know is normal cat behavior.

I immediately went to a park with a public bathroom and washed the cut with soap and water.  Called my doctor and he said not to worry about it, but if I'm concerned I can go to urgent care because I couldn't get an appointment with him for a while.  I did go to urgent care a few days later when I couldn't stop freaking out and they took one look at the bite, told me it's not infected and that rabies from cats isn't a concern.  Of course all the CDC documentation I've furiously googled is saying otherwise and I need the rabies shots if it's an unknown cat that can't be observed, but the urgent care doctor just said no, I'm not going to get rabies from a cat in the US.

That was last Monday.  Cut to Wednesday and I started feeling dizzy and having headaches on and off.  Typical allergy symptoms for me especially because it was extremely windy that day and things have started blooming here in Southern California after the rain last month.  But no.  Anxiety immediately in overdrive, panic attacks almost every day, expecting to be foaming at the mouth any day now and dead in a few.  Of course, it's now Sunday and none of that has happened, in fact some combination of drinking water/having caffeine/eating food/taking an Ativan (which I haven't needed for the past year or so; I've been taking Lexapro every day which I thought cured my anxiety but apparently severe incidents like this can still break through) tends to improve the symptoms or push them away from a time.  Rabies wouldn't work that way... right?