Dan Niswonger was the only patron of Pop's Pizza Tuesday night that was wearing a hospital bracelet.

After being discharged from St. Francis Medical Center at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Niswonger and his family headed to one of his favorite pizza places, where a fund-raising dinner was held in his honor.

"My wife had this huge meal planned for my homecoming," said Niswonger. "But when I heard about this (the benefit dinner), I talked everyone into coming here."

Niswonger, a Cape Girardeau police officer injured in a traffic accident while working a local running event, has been hospitalized since April 2.

"Everyone was wonderful at the hospitals -- I couldn't have dreamed of having better people there to take care of me," said Niswonger. "But I am so tickled to finally be out.

"You don't know what a treat it is to be sitting here tonight in a real restaurant, talking to people who aren't standing over my hospital bed," he added. "I don't have to look up anyone's noses when I talk to them now."

Niswonger's police motorcycle collided with a van on North Sprigg Street near Emerald on April 2, throwing the officer into a nearby guywire. He incurred severe injuries to the right side of his body in the fall.

After a long battle with a raging infection, doctors were forced to amputate Niswonger's right leg and the right side of his pelvis. Although he has recovered from the surgery, Niswonger said he still experiences a lot of pain in his lower back and has trouble sitting for long periods of time.

And even though Niswonger is out of the hospital, he's not out of the woods.

"I have to go back Monday through Friday every week for occupational and physical therapy," said Niswonger. "They're teaching me how to do things for myself and strengthening a lot of the muscles in my lower back.

"I'm anxious to find out what my limitations are going to be and to see how long it's going to take before I'm back to 100 percent," he said. "Then I'm going to talk to (Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr.) about what he's got to offer."

Although he now is confined to a wheelchair, Niswonger has high hopes for a prosthesis doctors are tailor-making for him.

"The doctor in St. Louis said that the prosthetics for people with injuries like mine don't work 95 percent of the time," said Niswonger. "I told him that I was planning on being in that 5 percent where it works out fine."

Despite what others would perceive as setbacks in his life, Niswonger is charging full steam ahead, with the positive attitude he became known for on the streets as a patrolman.

"In the physical therapy sessions I've had already, I've seen a lot of people who have suffered strokes or are paraplegics or something," said Niswonger. "So I try to be as jolly and cheerful as I can and put on a good face, to encourage those people who really need it. I just have tried to make the best of a bad situation.

"It's hard for me to be down about all this with the support I've received from my family and my friends," said Niswonger. "Everyone has been so supportive to me and my family throughout everything. I just can't tell you how much that means to all of us."

But as the evening at Pop's Pizza wore on, Niswonger became more and more anxious to get home.

"There's nothing like home," he said. "Everything is going to be fine now. I'm going home."