Digress & Regress

Digress means to side track or to divert attention from the topic at hand: “Her speech often seemed to digress from the main topic of the seminar.”

Regress is to move backward, either physically or in one’s thinking: “In old age, one’s body regresses.”

Forgive me if I seem to digress from our conversation, but I am concerned that my aunt’s health will regress while she is hospitalized.