I don’t know if your issue is cached values at all, but get_category()
does cache results, so it’s a possibility.
Here are some other options:
$current_cat_id = get_query_var('cat');
$category = get_category($current_cat_id);
// One possibility:
$count_a = get_category_count( $category->slug );
// OR... another possibility:
$count_b = wp_count_terms( $category->slug );