循环中的PHP变量拒绝递增

for($j = 0; $j < 12; $j++) {
  for($k = 0; $k < 8; $k++) {
    $ln = $k + 1;
    if(...) {
    //Code for table edges like row and col names
    //end code
    } else { //Other cases
      //switch statement, looks like
      switch($j) {
        case 2:
          $keyname = $ln.'_FAR_INT';
          break;
        ... //All cases are accounted for in this switch
      }
      foreach($data as $key => $val) {
        if(strpos($keyname, $key) !== false) {
          $cellVal = $key;
          break;
        } else {
          $cellVal = '';
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

So the problem here is that the variable $ln is stuck at 2 no matter what as soon as it hits a blank row. The first two columns have data from a database, and the third onwards have blanks in their relevant key/value pairs, so they're not returning null, but  

If you notice, it gets to 2_FAR_INT, then does that forever until it hits the next row.

I don't know why it does this and debugging it has been a painful endeavor.

Dataset: Looks like {data: 1_FAR_INT, 2_FAR_INT, 3_FAR_INT, etc..., 1_TOTAL_BORN, 2_TOTAL_BORN, 3_TOTAL_BORN,...}

Why does $ln refuse to increment appropriately to $k + 1 in every single case no matter what I tell it to do?