If you are not seeing your edits on the map, see the faq on the wiki http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Faq#I_have_just_made_some_changes_to_the_map._How_do_I_get_to_see_my_changes

It should be possible to recover the area that is lost, I know this has been done before. Try asking on IRC or on the mailinglist, maybe someone can help.

If you set your location on your user page you can see other users nearby. Then you can send them messages and see if they are interested in helping out.

Also, on http://www.fxfoo.com/osm/kml/web/web-osm-world-day-latest-v0-openlayers.html?zoom=7&lat=36.75649&lon=128.6499&layers=B0T you can see latest changes in your area, for the last day.

If you zoom to highest zoom-level on the osmarender layer you can see the username of the last editor of a road.

I use a Holux GPSlim236 over bluetooth with my mobile phone to record tracks with Trail Explorer (http://www.substanceofcode.com/software/mobile-trail-explorer/). This only shows the track and not the map, but there are other java programs that can do both. This is probably the cheapest alternative if you already have a java-enabled phone. A GPS-mouse costs £40+.