I am working on a project where I need to make many changes to files, both inside and outside of the vi editor. I make small changes manually right in vi, and I have a script that I run from another session that I use to make bigger changes to the files using sed.

After running my script from another session, I go back to my vi session and I refresh the screen by typing ":edit" so I can see the changes. That works; ":edit" does refresh the screen, but it puts me several lines above - or several lines below - where I was.

Any way to refresh without losing my spot?

You can use esc mode command to refresh the screen (reedit) discarding unsaved changes from the last saved session

:e!

Isn't e: the same thing as edit:? Is there a way to refresh without repositioning the screen?