Dear 4kidsmom,
I myself have had sinus surgery 7 times but I'm 40 years old. I lived in Atlanta, Georgia from 1990 - 2004 and went to the Cystic Fibrosis Center for my Doctor's appointments (but then I contracted Cepacia and coud't go to the CF Center anymore and had to have my 3 month checkups done at the Emory Hospital but that's another story, sorry I digressed for a moment). I knew a little girl who hadn't even become a teenager yet and she had already had sinus surgery 17 times. (now most of the surgeries were to remove polyps which is realitively easy an less painfull than having your sinuses drilled out) This is not a CF urban legend, I new the girl and if you call the CF Center in Atlanta Ga. (404-727-5728) they might confirm for you that although it's rare to have that many surgeries at such a young age your child's case is not unique and other children do sometimes go through the same ordeal. And although surgery is scary especially for children, having polyps removed can be done on an out patient basis and is not as ubtrusive or as painful as having your sinus cavities drilled out. Never wait. If you wait to long as I did in 1996 things can become very complicated. I was told I needed sinus surgery to open up my sinus passages but I didn't want to have surgery so I waited which caused me to contract a bad infection and they had to do the surgery from the outside and chip out some bone at the top of the bridge of my nose so they could clean out my sinuses. They coudn't remove the blockage by going up through my nose so subsequently they had to do it from the outside and they removed a mucus plug the size of one of those big black olives. Since then I've had sinus problems every day and regret waiting to get it done. Plus now I've got a 3/4 inch scar almost right between my eyes and on one side of the bridge of my nose my sunglasses sit in that hole left there from where they had to chip out part of my bone. So my advise would be never wait and if the Doc tell's you that your child needs surgery I would heed his advise. I wouldn't give out this advise if I hadn't gone through that pain.
Good luck,
Ricky