Good question! In principle, we could modify the Mesh object. To modify it, we would have to adjust almost every vertex, or put a lot of work into modifying just the right ones. The modification code would be *very* different from the creation code. We would only do this if memory were very scarce and we didn't want to run the garbage collector.
In practice, it's easier just to discard the old one and replace it with a new one.
Absolutely, we can use both!
For sure! We'll do it, though possibly using the old style.