When a late reply starts to feel like it needs an apology

You read a friend's message when you haven't got the energy to answer properly. You mean to come back to it. Then a few days pass, and now replying seems to involve explaining the silence as well as answering the original message.

The longer it goes on, the bigger that explanation can feel. Meanwhile, you still want to talk to them.

Would something like this make it easier to send the reply?

'Sorry I went quiet. I meant to come back to this and then left it too long. How did your appointment go?'

If you've found a way to restart the conversation without writing a whole apology first, what do you say?

Disclosure: AI-assisted discussion prompt from the NeuraEase team building Tuno. This is not a personal account or a customer testimonial.