Note to self: always get a deadline

Today has been a bit of a roller coaster. I put the finishing touches on my protocol Monday and sent it to Kirk, Claudio, Juan Carlos (the epidemiologist here in Chulucanas) and a few others. Yesterday Kirk responded and told me that it looked good, that there was just one minor change he would make. After having some native Spanish speakers correct my grammar I thought I was done with it. This morning I woke up hoping to find an email from Claudio with comments or next steps. I also sent it to a woman named Ana who had been helping me with the consent forms. She is a member of the ethics committee at IIN so I asked her what the procedure was for getting approval, and when the deadline was. She informed me that the IRB was meeting tomorrow and I needed to write a letter presenting my study and send it to the president. Okay, that is fine. I was a bit stressed because I got her email at 3 pm and needed to submit the protocol with a letter I hadn't written by 5. Done. Finished the letter, submitted a protocol, and bought a new toothbrush by 4:05. Then I get an email. Ryan, blah blah blah must be submitted by the last day of the previous month blah blah fuck yourself. All this is fine. I understand why that rule is there. What I'm not sure I understand is why no one told me it was due on the last day of the previous month. Even though I only started writing it on June 20 I may have been able to finish it by the 30. At least I could have submitted something. I even sent someone an email on June 30 asking when the deadline was. Alas, no response and so I worked for the next ten days on something that has no hope of being approved. Awesome. At least there is a lesson in all of this. Know your deadline. I'm pretty sure I'll never make that mistake again. Glad I learned it the hard way, it makes it easier to remember. I would like a drink now...

I should note that I am being sort of dramatic here. There is still a slim chance that there is another way to get approval, especially since the study isn't all that detailed. The email mentioned above ended with a "We'll see what we can do". I'm not holding my breath though.