UPDATE: I got the "e-ticket confirmation" e-mail from AA (about 9 or 10 hours after I had made the change, which is quite fast). This reticketing also fixed the aa.com display, which now shows the status correctly as "Ticketed".
So the situation has resolved itself and I worried (and posted) unnecessarily. It's just not fun to watch your ticket to return home showing up as "canceled".
Many thanks to everyone who took the time to post.