Elbow Surgery Day Of – IV Placed Apr 27, 2018453 × 736 in One Month Post-Surgery Update: Lizz’s Perspective ← Previous Next → IV placement went just fine. They injected a mix of rubbing alcohol and water to numb it, which didn’t sting like lidocaine and actually worked pretty well. I still hate hand IVs, and it did actually cause me a lot of discomfort prior to surgery.