I had a CBC and the white cell count came back at 22,800. I wasn't told what the differential was, so I am not sure if this helps indicate anything, but the nurse said there was no other sign of infection and they wanted to run a urinalysis to look for any infection, and to re-run the CBC.

I have recently been treated for a herniated disk with sciatica pain. I took cortisone injections this week. The next day I had the blood test. Questions..

1. Could the steroid injection cause an increase this much in my WBC?
2. It UA is clear, and level is still increased, what is next step (other blood, bone marrow), what?
3. Assuming UA is clear, how far should my WBC drop to feel comfortable about not continuing with additional tests?
4. Is this level too high for just an infection, and does this indicate cancer instead?

Thanks for your advice.