diff --git a/geomagio/api/db/session_table.py b/geomagio/api/db/session_table.py
index 49a62fecfb774c3a96dfb233be7db30097f46a98..61f4b589a0217b5c6ade5f729f8deddd23a33a17 100644
--- a/geomagio/api/db/session_table.py
+++ b/geomagio/api/db/session_table.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ async def delete_session(session_id: str) -> None:
 async def get_session(session_id: str) -> str:
     query = session.select().where(session.c.session_id == session_id)
     row = await database.fetch_one(query)
-    return row.get("data", None)
+    return row.data
 
 
 async def remove_expired_sessions(max_age: timedelta) -> None:
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ async def save_session(session_id: str, data: str) -> None:
         .values(data=data, updated=updated)
     )
     count = await database.execute(query)
-    if count is None or count == 0:
+    if count == 0:
         # no matching session, insert
         query = session.insert().values(
             session_id=session_id, data=data, updated=updated