Hi @Scott_Sullivan ,
do you use filtered search (can be set on the form "show only related data") and the relation filter field is may be not properly filled on creation?
Do you use the same roles and tablepermisisons for create and update (usually, they are the same but i never tested what happens, when i create two tablepermissions for the same entity and assign them to the same role).
I assume, that the same user is logged in (or both time anonymous) for create and update.
Just ideas,
Have fun,
Christian