diff --git a/node/pod.go b/node/pod.go
index 3a93aba0b..7fa15f3af 100644
--- a/node/pod.go
+++ b/node/pod.go
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ const (
 	podEventDeleteSuccess         = "ProviderDeleteSuccess"
 	podEventUpdateFailed          = "ProviderUpdateFailed"
 	podEventUpdateSuccess         = "ProviderUpdateSuccess"
+
+	// 151 milliseconds is just chosen as a small prime number to retry between
+	// attempts to get a notification from the provider to VK
+	notificationRetryPeriod = 151 * time.Millisecond
 )
 
 func addPodAttributes(ctx context.Context, span trace.Span, pod *corev1.Pod) context.Context {
@@ -237,7 +241,7 @@ func (pc *PodController) updatePodStatus(ctx context.Context, podFromKubernetes
 // enqueuePodStatusUpdate updates our pod status map, and marks the pod as dirty in the workqueue. The pod must be DeepCopy'd
 // prior to enqueuePodStatusUpdate.
 func (pc *PodController) enqueuePodStatusUpdate(ctx context.Context, q workqueue.RateLimitingInterface, pod *corev1.Pod) {
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, notificationRetryPeriod*maxRetries)
 	defer cancel()
 
 	ctx, span := trace.StartSpan(ctx, "enqueuePodStatusUpdate")
@@ -255,17 +259,23 @@ func (pc *PodController) enqueuePodStatusUpdate(ctx context.Context, q workqueue
 	ctx = span.WithField(ctx, "key", key)
 
 	var obj interface{}
-	// 151 milliseconds is arbitrarily chosen here as a small prime number.
-	err = wait.PollImmediateUntil(151*time.Millisecond, func() (bool, error) {
+	err = wait.PollImmediateUntil(notificationRetryPeriod, func() (bool, error) {
 		var ok bool
 		obj, ok = pc.knownPods.Load(key)
 		if ok {
 			return true, nil
 		}
 
-		// Blind sync. Ignore return code.
-		cache.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done(), pc.podsInformer.Informer().HasSynced)
+		// Blind sync. Partial sync is better than nothing. If this returns false, the poll loop should not be invoked
+		// again as it means the context has timed out.
+		if !cache.WaitForNamedCacheSync("enqueuePodStatusUpdate", ctx.Done(), pc.podsInformer.Informer().HasSynced) {
+			log.G(ctx).Warn("enqueuePodStatusUpdate proceeding with unsynced cache")
+		}
 
+		// The only transient error that pod lister returns is not found. The only case where not found
+		// should happen, and the pod *actually* exists is the above -- where we haven't been able to finish sync
+		// before context times out.
+		// The other class of errors is non-transient
 		_, err = pc.podsLister.Pods(pod.Namespace).Get(pod.Name)
 		if err != nil {
 			return false, err
@@ -280,7 +290,7 @@ func (pc *PodController) enqueuePodStatusUpdate(ctx context.Context, q workqueue
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.IsNotFound(err) {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("Pod %q not found in pod lister: %w", key, err)
-			log.G(ctx).WithError(err).Warn("Not enqueuing pod status update")
+			log.G(ctx).WithError(err).Debug("Not enqueuing pod status update")
 		} else {
 			log.G(ctx).WithError(err).Warn("Not enqueuing pod status update due to error from pod lister")
 		}