WordPress.com password and WordPress.com stats

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I’m just about out of options.

I have a self-hosted blog. Way back when I first set it up, I wanted to use the Aksimet plugin to block spam, but I had to sign up for a WordPress.com account to get an API key to use it, which I did. It works fine. Since I created that WordPress.com account, the e-mail address associated with the account has been discontinued (it was a school e-mail account, and I’ve since graduated and the account has been deleted).

Fast forward to the present. I want to use the WordPress.com stats plugin for my self-hosted blog. I can install it and use the API key I created for Akismet fine, but it apparently requires me to log into my WordPress.com account on the dashboard of my self-hosted blog to get full functionality. Unfortunately, I don’t recall what my password is for my WordPress.com account, and obviously e-mailing it to me is not an option since that e-mail address is no longer valid.

Question one: is there a way to retrieve the password for this WordPress.com account? I can’t seem to find any solution to retrieving a WordPress.com account password that does not involve e-mail, which again is not an option for me because the e-mail address for that account is no longer valid.

Of course, the plot thickens. In the event that obtaining a password for that account is hopeless, I went ahead and created a new WordPress.com account with my current e-mail address to get a new API key so that I could use that with WordPress.com stats on my self-hosted blog. However, I’ve once again run into a road block. Now, when I enter the API key in the WordPress.com stats configuration screen, my blog tells me that the API key is associated with the WordPress.com account I just created and that I need to either add my self-hosted blog, or replace an existing blog an inherit its stat history. Below that, there is only an option to “Add new blog to my account.” Since that is the only option, I click on it. The next screen says there is an “Error from last API key attempt: missing API key” and that the plugin is not working because it is not associated with a WordPress.com account. I’m given the option to re enter my API key, which I’ll do, and my blog returns me to the “replace or add” screen. Again, I only have the option to add my self-hosted blog, which I click on. Same API error. At this point, I’m just going in circles.

Question two: what on earth am I doing wrong with this plugin? Why hasn’t creating a new WordPress.com account solved the problem, and why am I just going in circles here?

I’ve clearly dug myself into a pretty deep hole here. Can anyone help me out?