Hi Barry, thanks for the props 🙂 Gail, don't be so modest 🙂

I think the most important thing for the OP to do is to make a backup of the current database before he does anything else to it. If something goes wrong along the way while trying to recover the DMK and certificate he can compound the problem and make his data completely unrecoverable. If he can export the DMK and certificate from an old backup of the database, he should be able to import them back into this one. He might have to use the FORCE option though. I've run into a similar situation myself, where I had to basically "copy" a certificate from one database to another, and the FORCE option was needed. FORCE is a dangerous last-ditch option though, since it can cause data loss in many situations.

I sent the OP a private message and told him to send me an email if he'd like some help going over the specifics of his situation.