Hi Crystal...Your story sounds much like my wife's, as it began about 7 years ago. Her wbc is now past 60. She has been diagnosed with CCL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia), since 1997. At the time, her wbc was in the 16-19 range. She gets her blood work done every 2 months. Originally, it was every 3 months. But a sudden increase a year ago, prompted the doctor to begin doing it more frequently.
There is no cure for this type of leukemia. Our understanding is that it usually hits men, after the age of 55. And because it is so slow moving, they typically die of old age, rather than blood cancer. My wife is obviously a female. And she was just 38 when diagnosed.
We're told that the doctors look for the count to jump twice its normal rate from the previous test. If/when that happens, they will then prescribe a course of treatment to try and slow it down.
There's no telling if this might be what you have, without the bone marrow biopsy. It does sound very familiar. So I'd say it's quite possible. I know that when the news was confirmed for my wife and I...we were shocked, scared, etc... Now, almost 8 years later, we rarely think about it. My wife's only real symptoms are that when she catches a cold, it is pretty rough on her; and takes longer than usual to go away. Recently, she had several weeks where she was in constant body pain. That is apparently a symptom of progressed stages. But I must say...she's been much better for the past few weeks. Either she's gotten used to it, or it really has gotten better.
I hope that you'll return to the board and let us know the results of your tests. Good Luck! And be strong!
[This message has been edited by chitrick (edited 01-14-2003).]
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Elevated WBC Count 
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