Hotmail doesn't exist anymore, how can I verify my account?

My original iTunes account was started in ye olden days of Hotmail email accounts.

Hotmail has since been bought by Microsoft Outlook, and I no longer can access my Hotmail account.

iTunes wants me to retrieve a verification code from Hotmail to verify my iTunes account.

How do I do that? I can't get the code. I can't log in to the email. I can't even FIND the email address anymore.

I can't register another address (my Gmail, for example) because it says that email is already taken, and I can't use my 'rescue' account as my primary account.

How do I fix this?