Problems making queries to mysql via php

Hello All,
here is a code that is not working for me, it’s giving me intermittent results, I’ve trying adding quotations to the query but still getting random results here is the one that the below code would putout “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in C:\wamp\www\updateoutage.php on line **31”

this one is another output that it would give me in other times I run the query
**“Connected successfully outage ID: 1
Query failed:
Unknown column ‘$OLD_OUTAGE_ID’ in ‘where clause’”

**
can some one please help me with this issue, thank you very much for your time.
**

<?php
$open_main_connection= mysql_connect('localhost', '*******', '****')or die('<div>Could not connect: </div>' . mysql_error());
echo 'Connected successfully';
mysql_select_db('outages') or die('<div>Could not select database</div>');

$OLD_OUTAGE_ID= $_GET['OUTAGE_ID'];
$OLD_TICKET_NUMBER= $_GET['TICKET_NUMBER'];
$OLD_AFECTED_SERVICES= $_GET['AFECTED_SERVICES'];
$OLD_CMTS= $_GET['CMTS'];
$OLD_CARD_NUMBER= $_GET['CARD_NUMBER'];
$OLD_NODE_NUMBER= $_GET['NODE_NUMBER'];
$OLD_SYMPTOMS= $_GET['SYMPTOMS'];
$OLD_START_DATE= $_GET['START_DATE'];
$OLD_END_DATE= $_GET['END_DATE'];
$OLD_STATUS= $_GET['STATUS'];
$OLD_SUBMMITTER= $_GET['SUBMMITTER'];
$OLD_LAST_UPDATED= $_GET['LAST_UPDATED'];
echo '<div>outage ID: '.$OLD_OUTAGE_ID.'</div>';
$query = 'UPDATE outages SET 
                            TICKET_NUMBER = $OLD_TICKET_NUMBER,
                            CMTS = $OLD_CMTS,
                            CARD_NUMBER = $OLD_CARD_NUMBER,
                            NODE_NUMBER = $OLD_NODE_NUMBER,
                            SYMPTOMS = $OLD_SYMPTOMS,
                            START_DATE = $OLD_START_DATE,
                            END_DATE = $OLD_END_DATE,
                            STATUS = $OLD_STATUS,
                            SUBMMITTER = $OLD_SUBMMITTER,
                            LAST_UPDATED = $OLD_LAST_UPDATED
                        WHERE 
                            OUTAGE_ID = $OLD_OUTAGE_ID';
$result = mysql_query($query) or die('<div>Query failed: </div>' . mysql_error());
mysql_free_result($result);
mysql_close($open_main_connection);
//echo "<div>Update Complete</div>";

?>