T.O. in hospital late TuesdayBy MAC ENGEL and CLARENCE E. HILL JR.
Star-Telegram Staff WriterS
Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens suffered an allergic reaction to pain medication Tuesday night and was admitted to Baylor Medical Center, according to a team source.
Terrell Owens' publicist, Kim Etheridge, said of the incident, "This is not serious." The source said Owens' status is unknown for today's practice and for the Cowboys' game Sunday at the Tennessee Titans.
KTVT/Channel 11 reported that a fire rescue team took Owens to the hospital, reportedly to the emergency room to induce vomiting. Dallas police did not confirm nor deny any details. Calls to Owens' agent were not returned.
Owens was on pain medication after he suffered a broken bone leading to his right ring finger in the Sept. 17 game against Washington. The next day, Owens had a plate screwed in to protect the bone so it could heal with no further risk of damage.
Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said Sept. 20, "the pain medicine made [Owens] ill."
The original prognosis was that Owens would be out two to four weeks.
But after having the plate inserted into his hand, the question was whether Owens could withstand the pain of playing and catching passes with the plate.
Owens has not practiced with the team since the injury. He caught passes Tuesday on the side from teammate Sam Hurd, and Parcells said he thought Owens would join the team for practice today.
"Yeah, the swelling has gone down pretty good," Parcells said. "He's caught some balls and he ran a lot [Tuesday]. [Today] he'll do something. We have a ways to go."
And Parcells said there was a long time before Sunday.
"If he can get to the point where it looks like he can function and he feels pretty good about it....It's just, can he withstand the pain of catching the ball? If he can withstand it, he can play."
However, after Tuesday night's developments, Owens' status for the rest of the week is uncertain.
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