I cant find my Iphone photos on my ipad

I lost my phone. I am not a tech saavy person but I thought I set regular backup of phone contents, including photos, to the cloud. Previous cell photo streams did pop up on my cell as well, but I have never seen them on my Ipad. But my husband says that if I backed up my cell photos I would be able to see my cell photos from my ipad. But I cant! Oddly, when I clicked on my "photos" icon on the Ipad my Iphone photos actually did flash briefly on my Ipad in "All Photos" but then disappeared! Im not crazy; I saw it. What is happening? I need to erase my phone using that Find My Phone App, but am devastated that I may be killing my chances at recovering those cell photos! Unfortunately Im in Mexico, have no easy way of getting help from even Apple--at least not quickly--and dont know what to think! Help!