I was let go by my second last job - this came up in an interview and I fumbled it hard. How can I discuss this in an upcoming phone interview with tact?

Hi all - basically title.

30 y/o working professional, been in my field for 13 years. I have 3 main jobs on my resume relevant to my field, the second of which I was let go of in 2022.

What happened was I was going through an extremely difficult time, dealing with personal mental health & health issues (severe depression, anxiety, and unexplained full right sided numbness). I was foolish and felt ashamed to be upfront with my boss about what was going on. They let me go due to the number of personal & sick days I had taken off.

Few months ago, I had made it to the third round of interviews with a company I really wanted to work for. In the initial interview, I had told them that I had left that job, not that I was let go. They basically confronted me and said they knew I lied about it, and because of that they couldn't hire me.

I have a phone screening interview tomorrow for a job I reaaaaally want (and really need). I want to make sure that I have a well versed answer for this question (if it comes up) so I'm not stumbling over my words.

My general thoughts of a response so far is this, "I left that role following a brief period of personal and health challenges that required me to miss work. Because I wasn't as proactive in communicating the situation to my manager as I should have been, we weren't able to align on how to navigate that time, and the position ended. 

It was a valuable lesson in the absolute importance of early communication. Those challenges are completely behind me, and my subsequent role demonstrates my strong track record of consistent communication and attendance." 

Thoughts? Notes? Suggestions?