Super bizarre changing variable!!

I'm running the following code: $query3 = "DELETE FROM table1 WHERE referer=$referer ORDER BY creation LIMIT $numtodelete"; $result3 = mysql_query($query3); $string = "$total found, $n kept, $numtodelete extras removed ($query3)"; $x = mysql_query("insert into table2 (friend_id,data) values ($referer,'$string')"); I created the table2 log file just so I could see what the hell is going on. Here is a typical entry in table2: FRIEND_ID = 8388607 DATA = 908 found, 100 kept, 808 extras removed (DELETE FROM table1 WHERE referer=69833818 ORDER BY creation LIMIT 808) Notice that the value in FRIEND_ID, which was set with $referer, is DIFFERENT than the value of $referer shown in DATA! How the flying f*&^%k is this possible??? I've been tearing my hair out for 3 days over this. Almost all records show 8388607 in that FRIEND_ID field. Once in a blue moon, a different value is shown, which does match the value in DATA. So it's displaying this erroneous behavior 95% of the time but not always.