Notes disappeared from iPad after iPadOS 26.2 update

Something is wrong with iPad OS26.2. Notes that I have had on my iPad for 5 plus years have literally disappeared. I have searched online and watched numerous YouTube videos with no help, the notes in question simply disappeared. In the Notes application in folders there was no “recently deleted” folder to be found. So I created a test note, deleted the note, and went back to folders, to “recently deleted” which was shown under folders, and the new note was there. I had updated the 5 year old note before installing 26.2, and when I went to the note on 1/22/2026 it was gone. I went online to iCloud to look for it, and it was not there either. My notes are set to synchronise with iCloud.

I really think this is a bug, and has affected other users as well.