Hi Kim,
I don't recall how long you will be away but I agree that the contact while you are gone definitely needs definition. This is important for you as well as for T. I agree that having two different T's continuously isn't a good thing. BUT, if you find a new T and call your T once in a while to update him on how you are doing, I don't see any harm in that.
I doubt that medicare will reimburse for e-mail. I have a friend who is a T and she can't even submit stuff electronically for privacy purposes.