unable to access 100/149 events in iphoto

It all started in an effort to restore photos from my camera accidentally deleted while on a trip. I used a restore program on the memory card. In the process of retreiving images from the memory card, it also downloaded 10K of images from my computer. I freaked out at all that data and deleted the whole 10K from the pictures file, not iphoto. Since than I have tried multiple suggestions frm the support group to no avail. Originally 100/149 events were black and when opened show thumbnails but unable to do anything with them, getting only a gray exclamation mark, and more recently with a thumbnail restore effort even the photos are gone. I feel that I have done irrevocable harm. My back-up is limited. Help!!