JavaScript (Ajax) + PHP - getting (and changing??) a link depending on PHP function

I am a beginner. I feel like I'm missing something in my thought process. I have tried a number of different things.

I'm coding a simple like button into each post of my site. I have three PHP functions related to this:

• isLiked($id) uses$_Get['id'] for the post and the ip address of the user ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']) to check if the user has already liked that particular post.
• likes() inserts the "like" into the database - it also uses$_GET['id']
• getLikes($id) gets the number of likes for each$id

likePost.php is a simple page that just callslikes() (Inserts the like to the db) and echoes the result, which isgetLikes($id). Yes, I called the function within the function.

The JavaScript I'm working on looks like this (I am NOT promising this is good JS ).

function likeButton() {
    $.ajax({
        url: "../../likes/",  //This is likePost.php, after .htaccess rewrite
        type: "post",
        data: {
            id:id },
        success: function(likes) {
            somethingHereIDontKnowWhat(likes);  //UGH
        }});
}
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and my link right now (sans JavaScript) + the number of likes now looks like this:

echo "<br/><div class='right'><a href='../../likes/" . $post->id . "'>
<img src='/images/like.png' title='Like this' alt='Like button'></a>" . getLikes($post->id) . "<div><br/>";
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I can't wrap my head around using the JS to run the PHP function (while sending the $post_id to the url to make $_GET['id'], but also using the (same?) JS to print and update the number of likes when the link is pressed. That's at least two things the function is doing at the same time - or am I completely lost?

Which should get me the number of likes (cross your fingers!!), but I need a way to incorporateisLiked() into it, because the link should be disabledif isLiked() = true.

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