diff --git a/protocol/connections/peerapp.go b/protocol/connections/peerapp.go
index affb595..811901b 100644
--- a/protocol/connections/peerapp.go
+++ b/protocol/connections/peerapp.go
@@ -113,10 +113,15 @@ func (pa *PeerApp) listen() {
 func (pa *PeerApp) SendMessage(message model2.PeerMessage) error {
 	if message.Context == event.ContextGetVal {
 		pa.getValRequests.Store(message.ID, string(message.Data))
+		// sync map is apparently not guaranteed to be consistent
+		_, ok := pa.getValRequests.Load(message.ID)
+		for !ok {
+			log.Debugf("retrying to load value map...")
+			_, ok = pa.getValRequests.Load(message.ID)
+		}
 	}
 	serialized, err := json.Marshal(message)
 	if err == nil {
-		//log.Debugf("sending plaintext of length %v", len(serialized))
 		pa.connection.Send(serialized)
 		return nil
 	}