Is it possible to set an embedded variable with JS without declaring it first in survey flow?

I am using a loop & merge with over 100 loops. I would like to make a new variable to capture the order the question appears in for each of the loops. Generally this takes the form of:

// current decision number
var decision = "${e://Field/decision}"
var decision = parseInt(decision);

// the current decision number is the same as the order of the questions
var questionText = "${lm://Field/1}"
Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.setEmbeddedData(questionText + "_order", decision);


// setup decision number for next loop
var decision = decision + 1;
Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.setEmbeddedData("decision", decision);

With the

questionText + "_order"