There were several types of IVs, even back then. Some kids had IV's with electronic medication pumps which were less common then than now, some had double-bag IVs with thick, vividly yellow medication in one bag. We kids defined one another by our equipment. Sometimes, I saw other kids getting transfusions, and shivered at the look of that dark, alien blood flowing into them. I recall feeling an obscure jealousy at their infinitely more serious communion.
Medical devices are a wonderful distraction, for staff and patients alike.
If there is a heart monitor in the room, there is a real tendency to watch it rather than the patient. The devices are concrete representations of the fact that something is being done about the mysterious chaos inside the body. I loved to play with my IV because it gave me a sense of helping things along. I think it was reassuring to the doctors and nurses in a similar way. When I got strong enough to move around a bit, I had to take my IV with me, on a wheeled IV pole.