Prompted by an experience last year in which I was told they’d do a second IV once I got to the OR.
When I woke up, I had two badly bruised spots, bandaged, in my right hand, and a second IV in my left hand (same hand as the first). In other words, they tried to do the IV, twice, and failed, and resorted to the other hand. While I’m not the easiest stick, the initial IV in pre-op went in just fine - but by the time surgery came around (delayed 4+ hours) I was very dehydrated. It’s no surprise they had trouble.
And, annoyingly, the surgical report said “got it in one try”. I actually asked the doctor “so that’s clearly false, what else did they lie about?”.
Anyway: I absolutely get the reason for having a second IV - you want access there in case the first one fails and there’s an emergency. I have zero issues with that.
But why on earth wait until the OR to do it? Why not do it up front, where the patient is still relatively well hydrated and you’ve got plenty of time, versus expensive OR time??
I’ve got another surgery coming up where I imagine the same thing will apply and I’m trying to decide how bratty I need to be about insisting that they establish the second IV when I’m still awake. Blood thinners were involved last year and will be this year as well.