Is it possible for an HTTP `GET` request with `Cache-Control: no-cache` to not hit the server exactly once? (Levering out idempotency of `GET`.)

In theory, one should use the HTTP GET method only for idempotent requests.

But, for some intricate reasons, I cannot use any other method than GET and my requests are not idempotent (they mutate the database). So my idea is to use the Cache-Control: no-cache header to ensure that any GET request actually hits the database. Also, I cannot change the URLs which means I cannot append a random URL argument to bust caches.

Am I safe or shall I implement some kind of mechanism to ensure that the GET request was received exactly once? (The client is the browser and the server is Node.js.)

What about a GET request that gets duplicated by some middle-man resulting in the same GET request being received twice by the server? I believe the spec allows such situation but does this ever happen in "real life"?

I've never seen a middle man, such as Cloudflare or NGNIX, preventing or duplicating a GET request with Cache-Control: no-cache.

from Is it possible for an HTTP `GET` request with `Cache-Control: no-cache` to not hit the server exactly once? (Levering out idempotency of `GET`.)