I ended up pushing a GET request to my index(search) page.
$search = $_GET["search"];
If a GET variable is supplied then the POST search is automatically performed
$(document).ready(function(){
var $search = "<?php echo $search; ?>";
if(search != "" && search != null){
$.post("search.php", {search: search},
function(data){
$("#returneddiv").html(data);
});
}
});