Steven Zahm@ Helen
If changes are not appearing right away, that almost has to be a caching issue. I did look for signs of W3TC and WP Super Cache. Are you perhaps using any other caching plugins?
Also, the shortcode … sounds like you might have HTML or other invalid code within it. Make sure you always work with shortcodes using the Text tab and not the Visual tab. I suggest going back switching the to Text tab and remove anything that should not be there. Another item to check for, make sure fancy single or fancy double quotes are not being used. WP only supports using straight single or straight double quotes. On screen, the difference is very subtle. The fancy quotes will have a very slight slant to them. It could be easier just to re-type the quotes while in the Text tab, that’ll ensure the fancy quotes are not being used.
Hope that helps!