diff --git a/src/Curl.jl b/src/Curl.jl
index 470a6b9..7d4a725 100644
--- a/src/Curl.jl
+++ b/src/Curl.jl
@@ -7,6 +7,17 @@ let m = match(r"^libcurl/(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)\b", CURL_VERSION_STR)
     const global USER_AGENT = "curl/$curl julia/$julia"
 end
 
+struct NoChannel end
+const NOCHANNEL = NoChannel()
+
+
+Base.isopen(req::NoChannel) = false
+Base.isempty(req::NoChannel) = true 
+Base.put!(req::NoChannel, ::IOBuffer) = false
+Base.take!(req::NoChannel) = nothing
+Base.close(req::NoChannel) = false
+Base.iterate(req::NoChannel) = Iterators.Stateful(Iterators.flatten(Iterators.repeated(nothing, 0)))
+
 
 function write_callback(
     data::Ptr{Cchar},
@@ -122,10 +133,16 @@ function header_callback(
         header = unsafe_string(data, n)
         header = strip(header)
 
-        if (m_grpc_status = match(regex_grpc_status, header)) !== nothing
-            req.grpc_status = parse(UInt64, m_grpc_status.captures[1])
-        elseif (m_grpc_message = match(regex_grpc_message, header)) !== nothing
-            req.grpc_message = m_grpc_message.captures[1]
+        if (m_grpc_status = match(regex_grpc_status, header)) isa RegexMatch
+            capture = m_grpc_status.captures[1]
+            if capture !== nothing
+                req.grpc_status = parse(UInt64, capture)
+            end
+        elseif (m_grpc_message = match(regex_grpc_message, header)) isa RegexMatch
+            capture = m_grpc_message.captures[1]
+            if capture !== nothing
+                req.grpc_message = capture
+            end
         end
 
         return n
@@ -155,6 +172,7 @@ function grpc_timeout_header_val(timeout::Real)
     return "$(string(timeout_nanosecs))n"
 end
 
+
 mutable struct gRPCRequest
     # CURL multi lock for exclusive access to the easy handle after its added to the multi
     lock::ReentrantLock
@@ -179,8 +197,8 @@ mutable struct gRPCRequest
     response::IOBuffer
 
     # These are only used when the request or response is streaming
-    request_c::Union{Nothing,Channel{IOBuffer}}
-    response_c::Union{Nothing,Channel{IOBuffer}}
+    request_c::Union{Channel{IOBuffer}, NoChannel}
+    response_c::Union{Channel{IOBuffer}, NoChannel}
 
     # The task making the request can block on this until the request is complete
     ready::Event
@@ -210,11 +228,11 @@ mutable struct gRPCRequest
 
     function gRPCRequest(
         grpc,
-        url,
+        url::String,
         request::IOBuffer,
         response::IOBuffer,
-        request_c::Union{Nothing,Channel{IOBuffer}},
-        response_c::Union{Nothing,Channel{IOBuffer}};
+        request_c::Union{Channel{IOBuffer}, NoChannel},
+        response_c::Union{Channel{IOBuffer}, NoChannel};
         deadline = 10,
         keepalive = 60,
         max_send_message_length = 4 * 1024 * 1024,
@@ -353,8 +371,10 @@ function handle_exception(req::gRPCRequest, ex; notify_ready = false)
     end
 end
 
-isstreaming_request(req::gRPCRequest) = !isnothing(req.request_c)
-isstreaming_response(req::gRPCRequest) = !isnothing(req.response_c)
+
+isstreaming_request(req::gRPCRequest) = !isa(req.request_c, NoChannel)
+isstreaming_response(req::gRPCRequest) = !isa(req.response_c, NoChannel)
+
 
 Base.wait(req::gRPCRequest) = wait(req.ready)
 
@@ -683,7 +703,7 @@ mutable struct gRPCCURL
     # Allows for controlling the maximum number of concurrent gRPC requests/streams
     events::Channel{Event}
 
-    function gRPCCURL(max_streams = GRPC_MAX_STREAMS)
+    function gRPCCURL(max_streams::Int = GRPC_MAX_STREAMS)
         grpc = new(
             Ptr{Cvoid}(0),
             ReentrantLock(),
diff --git a/src/Streaming.jl b/src/Streaming.jl
index 89a4828..ec50c84 100644
--- a/src/Streaming.jl
+++ b/src/Streaming.jl
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ function grpc_async_stream_response(
     try
         while isnothing(req.ex)
             response_buf = take!(req.response_c)
+            if response_buf === nothing
+                continue
+            end
             response = decode(ProtoDecoder(response_buf), TResponse)
             put!(channel, response)
         end
@@ -168,7 +171,7 @@ function grpc_async_request(
         IOBuffer(),
         IOBuffer(),
         Channel{IOBuffer}(16),
-        nothing;
+        NOCHANNEL;
         deadline = client.deadline,
         keepalive = client.keepalive,
         max_send_message_length = client.max_send_message_length,
@@ -255,7 +258,7 @@ function grpc_async_request(
         url(client),
         request_buf,
         IOBuffer(),
-        nothing,
+        NOCHANNEL,
         Channel{IOBuffer}(16);
         deadline = client.deadline,
         keepalive = client.keepalive,
diff --git a/src/Unary.jl b/src/Unary.jl
index 4031fdb..936ad9c 100644
--- a/src/Unary.jl
+++ b/src/Unary.jl
@@ -74,8 +74,8 @@ function grpc_async_request(
         url(client),
         request_buf,
         IOBuffer(),
-        nothing,
-        nothing;
+        NOCHANNEL,
+        NOCHANNEL;
         deadline = client.deadline,
         keepalive = client.keepalive,
         max_send_message_length = client.max_send_message_length,
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ function grpc_async_request(
         url(client),
         request_buf,
         IOBuffer(),
-        nothing,
-        nothing;
+        NOCHANNEL,
+        NOCHANNEL;
         deadline = client.deadline,
         keepalive = client.keepalive,
         max_send_message_length = client.max_send_message_length,