JoDee,
Great topic! I am a kidney transplant recipient and I really appreciate you bringing up hydration. Somedays the water just goes down and I am able to drink 3 liters with little effort and other days I struggle to get down the 2 liter minimum my Mayo team recommends. On days where I struggle I take out 2 1 liter water bottles and with a black marker I divide them into 3 sections each and write time goals on each section to keep myself on track. It's pretty easy for me to drink all the water I need when I have smaller goals that I can see and manage. Hope this helps.
Jolinda